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Table of Contents: 2021 SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER No. 442

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Updates on PubMed and NLM Catalog Filters and Subsets

Updates on PubMed and NLM Catalog Filters and Subsets. NLM Tech Bull. 2021 Sep-Oct;(442):e8.

2021 October 15 [posted]

In April, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) announced an Update on PubMed Specialized Search Queries: Selected Queries No Longer Updated; Remain Available for Download and Customization.

The last version of the selected PubMed Special Queries are available to use as a base to customize, update, and save as your own search strategies in My NCBI. To create your own search strategies, visit Saving and Managing Searches. There is also information and instructions on using MeSH and searching PubMed more effectively.

Queries removed from PubMed "Additional filters" options

Several of these specialized queries were available in the PubMed filters sidebar using the "Additional filters" button. These queries have been removed from the filter sidebar options in PubMed (see Figure 1).


screenshot of PubMed page featuring the filters side bar and additional features interface.
Figure 1: PubMed filters side bar and additional filters interface.

The SUBJECT category and associated filters have been removed from the PubMed interface:

  • AIDS
  • Cancer
  • Complementary Medicine

The following filters from the JOURNAL category have been removed from the PubMed interface:

  • Dental Journals
  • Nursing Journals

The Systematic Reviews filter is still available as a default--always visible--filter under the ARTICLE TYPE filter category.

Filters and subsets will be removed from PubMed and NLM Catalog, including E-Utilities and FTP data

In early December, the associated filters and subsets will be removed from the PubMed and NLM Catalog indexes during NLM’s Annual MEDLINE/PubMed Year-End-Processing activities.

After the Year-End-Processing update, these filters and subsets will no longer work when searched in PubMed or NLM Catalog as part of a query, such as: aids[sb], or jsubsetn.

Additionally, the PubMed EFetch, FTP baseline and update XML files will no longer carry these subset values, e.g., <CitationSubset>AIM</CitationSubset>.

Affected filters

Query

PubMed filter

AIDS

aids[sb]

Bioethics

bioethics[sb]

Cancer

cancer[sb]

Complementary Medicine

cam[sb]

Core Clinical Journals

core clinical journals[sb]

Dental Journals

dental journals[sb]

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART)

dart[sb]

Dietary Supplements

dietsuppl [sb]

Health Disparities

healthdisparities[sb]

History of Medicine

history[sb]

Nursing Journals

nursing journals[sb]

Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives

reportresearch[sb]

Space Life Sciences

space[sb]

Toxicology

tox[sb]

Veterinary

veterinary[sb]


Affected journal/citation subsets

Subset code

Journal/Citation subset

AIM

Core Clinical Journals

B

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of biotechnology (not currently used)

C

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of communication disorders (not currently used)

D

Dental Journals

E

Bioethics

F

Older citations from one journal prior to its selection for Index Medicus; used to augment the database for NLM International MEDLARS Centers (not currently used).     

H

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of health administration (includes records from the former HealthSTAR database)

J

Citations in the field of population information (not currently used; on records from the former POPLINE® database) 

K

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals relating to consumer health

N

Nursing Journals

Q

History of Medicine

QIS

History of Medicine

QO

History of Medicine

R

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of population and reproduction (not currently used)

S

Space Life Sciences

T

Citations from non-Index Medicus journals in the field of health technology assessment (includes records from the former HealthSTAR database)

X

AIDS


For help with queries or other questions, please contact NLM Customer Support.

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