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Sciences and Technology Database Help: PubMed / Medline

PubMed & MEDLINE

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Introduction

PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to millions of citations from MEDLINE and additional life science journals. PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.

Ovid MEDLINE ® covers the international journal literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care.

PubMed and MEDLINE are key databases for the following subject areas:

PubMed vs. Medline

What is the difference? A comparison of PubMed and Medline.
What is PubMed What is Medline
  • Online version of Index Medicus produced by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM).
  • Freely available on the Internet.
  • The primary component of PubMed made available by NLM to commercial suppliers.
  • Available by subscription through a number of interfaces.
  • At UM we have the OVID interface.
Coverage of PubMed Coverage of Medline
  • Back to 1946
  • Contains over 37 million records from 5,400 journals
  • Includes all of Medline and:       
  1. 'in process' citations
  2. some older citations
  3. citations to non-medical journals
  4. citations to ebooks
  • Some free full text (PubMed Central) & UM 'Check Access' button if accessed through library.
  • Subject coverage = medical, biomedical & life sciences
  • Back to 1946
  • Contains over 31 million records from 5,200 mainly US journals
  • Some full text and UM 'Check Access' button. 
  • Subject coverage = life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine
  • Records are indexed with NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) which enhances search capability
Searching PubMed Searching Medline
  • Easy keyword searching and automatic mapping to MeSH terms.
  • Search MeSH database to subject search
  • Extensive limiting options
  • Clinical Queries filters from NLM
  • see also How to search PubMed
  • Keyword searching
  • Advanced Search with guided mapping of keywords to MeSH terms
  • Extensive limiting options
  • Clinical Queries filters from McMaster University Hedges Project
  • see also How to search using Ovid
Other features of PubMed Other features of Medline
  • 'Related citations'
  • Register to save searches, set up alerts & customize filters.
  • Citations may be exported to citation managers.
  • 'Find Similar' and 'Find Citing Articles'.
  • Register to save searches, and create email alerts.
  • Citations may be exported to citation managers.
When to use PubMed When to use Medline
  • If you are unable to access subscription databases.
  • For easy keyword searching (automatically maps to MeSH).
  • For clinical queries.
  • For genetics topics.
  • For finding related citations 
  • For keyword searching
  • For guided MeSH subject searching.
  • For extensive search limiting options.
Knowledge Synthesis and PubMed Knowledge Synthesis and Medline
  • Depending on question, search PubMed OR Medline NOT both
  • Depending on how searched PubMed searches are not as reproducible as Medline searches.
  • Depending on question, search PubMed OR Medline NOT both
  • Medline searches are more reproducible than PubMed searches
  • Depending on question, search Medline in combination with Embase

Video Tutorials

PubMed Search Tutorial Video

The following is a video made by John Hopkins University detailing how to build a search.

Ovid MEDLINE Tutorial Videos

The following is a playlist of 6 helpful videos to get you started with research in Ovid Medline

Acknowledgements