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Searching in PubMed

A guide for using PubMed, the world's largest database for biomedical and health sciences literature.

Available Filters

Filter Information

Filters allow you to refine your search results by specifying additional criteria. Filter options appear to the left of your results. To apply filters: 

  • Click on a filter to apply it to your search. Active filters appear above your search results.
    • Filters "stick" and are applied to future searches until you turn them off.
  • You may be able to  select multiple filters within a single category.
    • For example by selecting Clinical Trial and Review under the Article Type category, you are limiting results to either Clinical Trial or Review articles.

To view a detailed graph of publication dates, click the expand icon to display an expanded view from which you can set the publication date filter. 

Only the most popular filters are displayed by default. 

  • Click on Additional Filters to view additional options such as numerous additional article types, species, language, sex, subject,  journal and age filters. Highlighted below are available age filters. 

Additional Features

Display options are located above the search results on the right  side of the screen. To modify the default settings, click on the gear icon.

Options include:

  • Display the abstract for each item in the results list.
  • Sort results by best match (relevancy) or by publication date.
  • Display up to 200 results per page.

Cite & Share options are located directly underneath each result. 

Click Cite to:

  • Copy the citation in AMA, MLA, APA, or NLM format.
  • Download the .nbib file to import to a citation manager such as Mendeley or Refworks.

Click Share to:

  • access a permanent link. 
  • access social media share options.