Searching Beyond PubMed Central: Free Full-text Articles in The National Library of Medicine’s PUBMED Database Mark D. Puterbaugh Information Services Librarian Eastern University, Warner Memorial Library, St. Davids, PA [email_address]

Pubmed is a search engine provided by the National Library of Medicine. It includes the bibliographic database Medline. “ MEDLINE is the NLM's premier bibliographic database that contains references to journal articles in the life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine. A distinctive feature of MEDLINE is that the records are indexed with NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). The database contains citations from 1950 to the present , with some older material. “ ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/overview.html#Introduction ) While primarily a citations resource, searches in PubMed can be limited to locate full-text articles from publications freely available on the web including the National Library of Medicines’ PubMed Central journal archive.

PubMed can be searched at http://www.pubmed.gov/ Before entering a search select

Check the box next to “Links to free full text”. Enter the search term and press “GO”.

From the results list select the Free article at journal site.

The article citation and abstract (if available) screen appears. Select the publisher’s icon to view the journal site.

The publisher’s site provides access in a variety of ways. In this case the researcher may view the article in an Acrobat .pdf file or in html.

Pros & Cons Pros Using “Limits” to search for full-text provides greater access to free full-text than searching PubMed Central alone. The articles are from professional organizations or are peer-reviewed publications. This method can provide the searcher with immediate access to full-text articles. Cons While including far more articles than in PubMed Central alone, the full text limiter produces far fewer results than a normal search. Many important articles can be missed. Leaves the researcher dependent on a smaller sampling of relevant resources. This can be frustrating. Consult with a librarian, they can help you find further resources for your research.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Using “Limits” to search for full-text provides greater access to free full-text than searching PubMed Central alone.

The articles are from professional organizations or are peer-reviewed publications.

This method can provide the searcher with immediate access to full-text articles.

Cons

While including far more articles than in PubMed Central alone, the full text limiter produces far fewer results than a normal search. Many important articles can be missed.

Leaves the researcher dependent on a smaller sampling of relevant resources. This can be frustrating.