Use this guide to help you search PubMed more effectively and to find out how to manage your search results. After reading this introductory page, click each heading in the following row of tabs:
​PubMed is a library database that provides records of articles and other documents in health and biomedicine, along with aspects of behavioural sciences, bioengineering, chemical sciences and life sciences. PubMed is provided by the US National Library of Medicine and US National Institutes of Health but its coverage is international.
It is a very extensive and reputable database, but if you are doing a systematic review, you are advised to search multiple databases in order to identify literature on your topic.
Date coverage: generally 1946 to present, with some older material indexed.
Core content: PubMed provides access to Medline, an index of articles and other documents from across 5,600 worldwide publications (academic journals, most of which are peer-reviewed; along with newsletters and magazines). List of journals indexed by PubMed. Note that PubMed has also started indexing preprint versions of articles and preprints are published prior to the peer-review process.
Additional content: PubMed also provides access to online books, websites and molecular biology resources.
If you have created an NCBI account to log in to PubMed, you now need to switch to a third party option, such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft or ORCID. Please refer to NCBI’s instructions and FAQs.
PubMed's MEDLINE content vs Embase
There are differences in journal coverage between Embase and MEDLINE. Embase indexes a total of over 8,400 journals. Amongst those journals, 3,293 are NOT indexed by MEDLINE and are unique to Embase.
The MEDLINE journal content can be searched using Embase, but the Embase journal content cannot be searched using MEDLINE.
Embase is produced by Elsevier in Europe and has more European journal coverage, MEDLINE is produced in North America and has more American journal coverage.
There is a significant difference in indexing. The index to MEDLINE is called MeSH. The index to Embase is called Emtree. MeSH contains approximately 30,000 controlled subject headings whereas Emtree has approximately 86,000. The extra Emtree terms are mainly for drugs and medical devices. This means that Embase is much better than Medline if you are searching for a drug name, drug class or type of medical device.
Embase indexes routes of drug administration, MEDLINE does not.
Embase indexes medical device trade names and manufacturers, MEDLINE does not.
Connecting to PubMed
The best way to connect to PubMed is to use a link from within the Library website. Using a library link makes it easier for you to access the full-text of articles that the Library has provided through its subscriptions.
You can find a link to PubMed by searching the Library Catalogue or visiting the Library's webpages for Health, Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Biology and Biochemistry, Psychology, and Mechanical Engineering. Here's another link you can use:
If you have created an NCBI account to log in to PubMed, you now need to switch to a third party option, such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft or ORCID. Please refer to NCBI’s instructions and FAQs.
Checking availability of articles
Don't use the 'text availability' filters to limit search results to articles by availability as these filters don't identify articles available through the Library’s subscriptions.
The most accurate way of finding out if a full article is available is to click the title in the search result and enter the full PubMed record. Within the record, click the large blue 'links' logo to the right. This takes you into a Library Catalogue record in which a 'full text' will be provided you will see a link next to the words 'full text available.
if there's no catalogue link to the article, another link will appear inviting you to request a scan of the document from another library (as long as you've signed into the Library Catalogue). Click this link to complete a request form. There's a good chance that you'll then receive the scan, either the same day or within two working days: further information about the Inter-Library Loan service.
