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PubMed: Database Introduction & Search Tips

An introduction to PubMed. Includes information about the Spring 2020 update.

PubMed and NCBI Introduction

PubMed is a free database of more than 30 million citations for published articles in the fields of biomedicine and health 

PubMed has citation information (e.g., title, author, journal, publication date) and abstracts of published articles and books. PubMed includes the MEDLINE® database, citations for articles in the PubMed Central (PMC) free full-text archive, including articles that report on research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and citations for books from the NCBI online Bookshelf (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books).

PubMed includes links to the full text from various sources:

  • UHSP library: When full text is NOT available, you will be directed to our interlibrary loan request form

  • PubMed Central (PMC) archive

  • Publisher's websites: The sites will often ask you to PAY for the article

Always go to PubMed through the library website

Accessing PubMed via a UHSP library webpage ensures that you have access to our full-text articles.

PubMed Results Page

Understanding the Results Page

See the figure below to understand the Pubmed search results page.

PubMed Abstract

Understanding a PubMed Entry

See the figure below to identify the information and parts of an item found in Pubmed.