Search Links Added to PubMed® Displays
[Editor's Note: This feature was implemented in PubMed on October 7, 2005.]
the following fields on PubMed's Citation format will soon become "search links" to PubMed, MeSH®, and other Entrez databases:
- MeSH Terms (headings, publication types, and substances),
- Grant Support
- Secondary Source ID
- Personal Name as Subject
In addition ClinicalTrials.gov identifier numbers (under Secondary Source ID) will link directly to the trial on the ClinicalTrials.gov Web site.
Publication Types and Personal Name as Subject search links will also be available as search links on the Abstract display.
If you click on a term in these fields, a pull-down menu will display the database search links options for that term (see Figure 1).
Click on an Entrez database name to search the term in that database. For example, if, in the above example, you select PubMed for the MeSH/Subheading combination Neoplasms/radiotherapy your search will be for that combination in PubMed (see Figure 2).
Search links for MeSH terms will automatically explode to include the more specific MeSH Terms in the hierarchy as will happen with any term normally entered in the search box and tagged with [MeSH Terms]. The tagged term will not map to other MeSH Terms as can happen with terms entered in the search box.
Database search links for Substances may include the Entrez PubChem databases (see Figures 3 and 4).
In addition to search links an Add to Search option may be available in the search links pull-down menu to add the term or terms to the PubMed search box to refine a search. For example, to refine a search on reflux disease child you may want to add the publication type Case Reports to the search (see Figure 5).
Search results may not be available for all database link options. A record with GenBank data, for example, may be added to PubMed before the GenBank sequence record is added to the Nucleotide database, and so the GenBank link may retrieve no items found when searched in Nucleotide.
Searchers should keep in mind that these links search for the exact term as displayed; variant forms of a term or number are not searched. For example, the Grant Support number link may not retrieve all citations pertinent to a particular grant if variant forms of the grant number are found on other records.
Available link selections are expected to change as new data is added to NLM® databases.
For additional information see Author Search Links Added to PubMed®. NLM Tech Bull. 2005 May-Jun;(344):e15.
Canese K. Search Links Added to PubMed® Displays. NLM Tech Bull. 2005 Sep-Oct;(346):e5.
