The Gustave L. and Janet W. Levy Library

Mount Sinai users should access PubMed from the Library's home page on the left sidebar under Key Resources, or from the Library's Databases page.

Accessing PubMed through the Library allows you to connect directly from PubMed to many of the Library's full-text articles.

Type your terms in the query box. If necessary, combine keywords using AND & OR. (in all caps.)

AND retrieves hits where all terms appear. OR retrieves hits where either term appears.

Click on the Details button to see how PubMed has translated the search.

PubMed's autmatic term mapping function is powerful. In this case, it translated "heart attack" into myocardial infarction and "ekg" into electrocardiography. It is also searching for those two synonymns.

Use Limits to focus your search by publication type, ages, publication date, language and more.

Make selections using the drop down menus. Click Go to put Limits into effect.

Type the author's last name, a space, and the first initial and middle initial, if known.

For Example:

To search for Brian J Smith's articles, enter:
smith bj

Click Go to retrieve references listing that name in the author field.

Single Citation Matcher provides an easy way to retrieve a small number of citations, based on one or more criteria (journal, author, volume, year, page numbers etc) that you supply.

Single citation matcher is often more efficient than a topic search for finding a known paper. Click Search to find the reference.

Use field tags to focus your search. Common field tags are:

Field tags are entered directly after the search term to which they apply.

For example: sinai[ad] AND york[ad] AND 2005[pdat] will retrieve articles written by Mount Sinai authors and published in 2005.

Consider searching with MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) when you need to: build a complicated search, focus on a specific aspect of a broad topic, or are not sure of the best term to represent your topic.

MeSH allows you to search by subject (not keyword). Ex. a keyword search for "AIDS" retrieves AIDS virus as well as hearing aids, teaching aids, etc. Selecting the MeSH term for AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome[MeSH] will limit your retrieval to the relevant subject.

First, select an appropriate MeSH term from the MeSH database.

Next, select a subheading if desired. Attaching subheadings to a MeSH term allows you to focus on a specific aspect of the topic. Ex. This search will be for "prevention of influenza" and will not retrieve articles where "prevention" and "influenza" are both mentioned as separate concepts.

Restrict Search to Major Topic headings if you want your topic to be a major focus (not a secondary focus) of the articles you retrieve.

Send to the Search Box.

The MeSH database query box is available at the top if you would like to add additional MeSH terms to the search statement.

Finally, select Search PubMed to run your MeSH search in PubMed.

PubMed's Clinical Queries uses built in Evidence Based Medicine filters to retrieve clinical studies using the best research methodologies for selected question types (therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis).

The filter table shows the filters automatically added to each Clinical Queries search.

Type your search terms in the box, select your category and scope, and send the search to PubMed by clicking GO.

A separate search box filters for systematic reviews.

The Clipboard is a temporary saving place that allows you to save citations (up to 8 hrs.) while you run additional searches.

Place a check in the box next to one or more citations that you want to save.

Then, from the Send To drop down menu, select Clipboard.

References added to the clipboard will appear with green numbers, identifying the items you've already selected while you run additional searches.

Retrieve items from the Clipboard by clicking the Clipboard button.

PubMed (the MEDLINE database) contains citations, not full-text articles. However, Mount Sinai users can connect from PubMed directly to full-text articles available in the Library's collection.

Display your results in Abstract format by changing Summary to Abstract.

If the blue MSSM LinkOut button appears, click it to open the full-text article.

The publisher's buttons (ex. Elsevier, Ovid) will only open full-text if Mount Sinai's provider matches the provider displayed in PubMed, or if the article is offered for free. Access the full range of dates and providers licensed for Mount Sinai by using the LinkOut and FIND IT buttons.

If there is no blue LinkOut button, use the FIND IT button for additional connections to the Library's collection (online and print) and to Interlibrary loan services.

Visit our interactive PubMed Tutorial for a short course on using PubMed effectively. Practice your searches in PubMed while you are learning about the database.

See also our PubMed user guides in PDF format:

• Intro to MEDLINE/PubMed
• MeSH searching
• Field Searching

Librarians are available to support your research. For help with a search, to learn more about PubMed, or to schedule individual assistance, please call (212) 241-7204 or send an email to Ask a Librarian