PubMed's® AbstractPlus Display: Success and Changes
The new AbstractPlus display format is a major part in our objective to bring useful information to the attention of PubMed users. AbstractPlus provides the titles, which are also links, for the first five related articles. Since the introduction of AbstractPlus, clicks on related links have increased 13%. Twenty-three percent of the time users view the AbstractPlus display, they click on one of the first five related articles links.
Currently, AbstractPlus shows icon links for the publisher (or aggregator) and for PubMed Central® (PMC) on the top right, above the Related Links. All other icon links, including library icons, display below the PMID. While we have not seen any decrease in the usage of library icons since AbstractPlus was introduced, we understand the concerns of librarians about the position of their icon. We will, therefore, display one library icon in the area above the Related Links. This change is expected to be made by March of 2007 (following modifications we are making to improve the efficiency of PubMed that will extend into early next year).
Libraries will be limited to one icon at the top and it must be no larger than 100 pixels wide by 25 pixels high [Correction: These measurements were corrected on April 30, 2007.] . Other icons will continue to display near the PMID. We will supply more information closer to the time of the change and NCBI will send out an announcement on the Library LinkOut Announcements listserv that will provide details and instructions.
We appreciate your continued support of PubMed. You can expect more changes to AbstractPlus and other parts of PubMed in the future as we do our best to lead users to more biological discoveries.
Nahin A. PubMed's® AbstractPlus Display: Success and Changes. NLM Tech Bull. 2006 Sep-Oct;(352):e6.
