PubMed for Students: The Key to Successful Academic Research

The world of scientific research has made discoveries and opportunities wider. With tools like PubMed, it has become convenient to step into the world of scientific research and explore. The vast majority of scientific research on the internet is filled with information that might be authentic, or it might not be. The assumption remains that whatever is on the internet might have a certain credibility to it. But the (virtual) reality is that it does not hold any kind of credibility and authenticity to be used in concrete materials. The introduction of certain tools to allow ingenuity has provided us with the information we can rely on.

Introduction to PubMed

Starting with the basic introduction - what is PubMed used for? The tool is a world of scientific discoveries disguised as an online database. The vast possibilities of this tool are wider than anyone can imagine. The information that anyone can have access to is what makes this tool special to anyone. It is especially true for students to fulfil their academic requirements. This tool can be used extensively as a free-access online library for research purposes that aid in your academic obligations, such as assignments. We are going to learn extensively about this tool from the perspective of how a student can use it for academic purposes.

What is PubMed?

PubMed, as a tool, is a full-text free database and an online source of information on biomedical topics. It is a gateway that opens the door to the latest discoveries and innovations in the field of medicine and life sciences. It covers a wide range of subfields related to topics that go beyond the basic level of research and insights. Whether you want to find the cure for diseases or illnesses, uncover the mysteries related to genetics or look for solutions to write in your assignment, the possibilities are high for all of you students. This online full-text free database is curated by the National Library of Medicine, making it accessible to anyone. It covers a wide range of fields within the life sciences and biomedical such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacology, veterinary medicine, and public health.

Key Features of PubMed

The students often ask, “How much does PubMed cost?”, and the answer to this question is that it does not cost anything; it is free. It is one of the great features and characteristics of the tool that allows almost anyone to access it. You can access it without having financial difficulties and constraints to access the information. Like this, there are many features that allow anyone to access the information and use it for their own particular needs. Let’s look into some of the key features of the tool to understand what it all encompasses as a tool.

Comprehensive Coverage

PubMed consists of over 30 million citations from biomedical and life sciences journals from around the world. Not only does it have a large amount of articles or journals, but it also covers various disciplines. It has written materials related to disciplines such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacology, veterinary medicine, and public health.

Peer-Reviewed Materials

This free-access tool is a reliable and credible source of information that you can access at any time. The reason for its reliability and credibility is the peer-reviewed articles. Its database of information primarily contains peer-reviewed journals or articles, ensuring that it is thoroughly reviewed and authenticated.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Many students ask, “How do I find research on PubMed?” and the answer lies in many of its features. One of the useful features of this tool is the search option for MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms. It utilises the MeSH terms, which are a set of controlled vocabulary related to medical terms that categorise articles or journals by subject. This helps users to efficiently search on the tool for articles related to specific topics and helps retrieve the relevant information.

Advanced Search Capabilities

This tool also provides powerful search capabilities that allow a user to search in complex ways using Boolean operators. For the students who are unfamiliar with this term, Boolean operators are the use of “AND, OR, NOT”. These phrase searches specify and simplify your complex searches related to an article or journal. Combined with field-specific research such as author or publication date, it enables you to widen your search capabilities.

Filtering Options for Refinement

You can refine your search by also having a research paper helper who will assist you in your research quest. These researchers will tell you how to use this other feature that allows you to using various filters like publication date, article title, the type of the article or journal, language it is written in, with more.

Updated Regularly

One of the important features of this free-access online tool is that it is continuously updated with new information. This includes new citations and literature which ensure that all the users will have access to the latest information.

Direct Link to Full Text

There are many citations in the tool that provide direct links to the articles or original materials. It is provided either through the websites of the publishers, institutional subscriptions or a Central platform. PubMed Central is no other than an archive maintained by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is another of its features.

PubMed Central (PMC)

PubMed Central is a free full-text archive hosted and managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). NCBI is a part of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Many articles in the tool are indexed with the full text on PMC, which has a vast collection of scholarly articles.

Citation Management

The tool allows the users to save their searched queries and create email alerts for new articles that match the user’s interest. It also allows users to export the citation management to several useful software like EndNote, Zotero or Mendeley.

User-Friendly Interface

The interface of the tool allows an easy-to-use interface for all sorts of users from all walks of life. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for users to find information, whether they are researchers, healthcare professionals, educators or even students.

Benefits of PubMed for Students

What is PubMed used for to benefit the students in their academic objectives? The benefits of using this tool are different but lie on the same tail as the features of the tool. Whatever we have discussed regarding the features of this tool, the benefits are the same. However, that was explained from a general perspective; now, we will dive into the perspective of how students can benefit from its features. We have compiled the list of benefits while explaining how exactly it is beneficial in relation to the features. Here are significant benefits for students to use this tool:

Access to Reliable and Peer-Reviewed Literature

Using PubMed ensures that all of you have access to high-quality and credible information for your research and studies. It showcases articles and journals that are relevant to the users and are peer-reviewed in the field of biomedical and life sciences.

Comprehensive Coverage of Biomedical Literature

As earlier mentioned, the tool provides extensive coverage for various disciplines which includes medicine, nursing, pharmacology, dentistry and public health. This allows all of you to explore a wide range of topics from your respective disciplines.

Offers Sophisticated Tools for Advanced Search

It also helps students to effectively and efficiently find the relevant information and literature related to their individual queries. You can use different search options and combine filters that will refine your search. Search in-depth by using keyword, MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms, filters (publication date, article), and Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).

Drive Engagement for Evidence-Based Practice

Some students have asked - “how to get full paper from PubMed?” which actually is a reflection of how accurate data is provided by the tool. It provides access to scientific peer-reviewed literature that has a kind of validation and credibility. It helps you with clinical decision-making, research projects and writing assignments, giving way to engage in evidence-based research.

Full-Text Access and Links to Articles/Journals

Many of the citations and indexes provide direct links to full-text articles. This is done through either the publisher’s websites or PMC (the free full-text archive maintained by NCBI). This has allowed students to develop a comprehensive understanding of research through complete research papers and dive deeper.

Citation Management for Academic Writings

PubMed allows you to save your search queries, create new alerts for new articles and export the citations to software applications like EndNote, Zotero or Mendeley. Using this feature, you can put citations and references effortlessly in your academic papers and presentations.

Offers Educational Resources and Tutorials

It also extensively and thoroughly guide you all by offering educational resources, guides and tutorials to use its features. All of these resources are beneficial to all of you as they support in providing expertise in PubMed’s search functionality and maximize the efficiency of your research and its results.

Keeps Students Informed About New Trends

The tool is regularly updated with new articles and research findings to ensure students have the most up-to-date information regarding their fields of study. This keeps all of you informed about the emerging trends and developments in your field.

How To - Brief Guides on “How To” Use Tool Properly

“How to access PubMed for free?” or “How can I publish my research paper?” are some of the ample questions regarding the tool that students have to ask. We are going to provide you all with the basic guides on how to use the tool properly. These how-to guides will provide you with enough instructions on how to follow along the lines to use the tool for any specific purpose. We will begin with the most basic module, which is to create an account on the official website. Moving forward, we will tap into the more potential requirements and questions of students who want to use the tool up to its full potential and discover new ways to benefit.

How To - Make A New Account

Go to the official website of PubMed and click on the “Log in” button on the top-right corner.

Since you are making a new account, click on the “Sign up” option at the bottom.

Click on the appropriate options among the given options as shown below.

Suppose you click on the Google option, select the account you want to create an account with, and then click on one of the options as shown below. Click on the “Continue” button. Your account will be created immediately following the click.

How To - Get Full Paper From PubMed

Now, to answer the query of students about how to get full paper from PubMed, follow these steps:

Go on the official website and hover through the homepage to click one of the articles that are trending or showing on the front. Or you can search it manually.

When you click on the article, it will open the small version of the text and find the option to access the full-text article.

As you can see in the image below, the full-text source for the article is mentioned with a direct link to the article. Click on the link to visit the original article.

The link will take you directly to the original (and complete) article which was embedded/indexed.

How To - Find Research On PubMed

Some students ask, “how do I find research on PubMed?” and here is how to do it:

Go to the official website and type your search term in the box on the homepage.

Select one of the search results to find your required research based on the information shown about the particular article. Or use the search filters to refine.

If you apply the filters, it will direct you to the result and show what filter has been applied, as shown in the image below.

There is another way to filter your search results and refine it at the beginning of the process. On the homepage and below the search box, click on the “Advanced” button to initiate the advanced filter.

Select the required filters and input the appropriate information for search results. Use Boolean operators if required and once done, click on the “Search” button.

How To - Publish Research In PubMed

One of the highly critical queries from one of the students who asked us - “How can I publish my research in PubMed?”. Follow and understand the instructions to do it.

Go to the official website and click on the NIH website, as shown below.

Click on the “Submit” button to initiate the process to submit your original research.

Enter the required information in the search bar or click on the “Suggest tool”.

Once you enter the search term, it will show options on the specification of the search term and the kind of information your original search encompasses. Click on the appropriate option.

Read the instructions provided by PubMed carefully and click on the “Next” button till you finish reading all the instructions on fields (overview, project, sample, library, files).

Once you are done reading all the instructions, click on the “Submit” button.

Choose either of the following options to make a submission, as shown below.

Suppose you click on the “New submission” button, and enter all your details and information on your original submission. The team will put it in the index and review it thoroughly before publishing it on its official website.

Similar Tools Like PubMed That You Can Use

Many students put the query to know which is better PubMed or Google Scholar. While this is a little too specific to answer and explain, we have thought of something different to provide you with the answer. What kind of tool you want to use will depend on your requirements, circumstances and knowledge. However, knowing the specifications and having a comparison chart will help you to understand the particular differences among each tool and come up with a final decision. We have compiled a list of similar tools that differ from each other based on specifications, such as coverage of disciplines and access to the user, with more. Look at the comparison chart with all the specifications to learn more about this.

Find the Right Academic Support to Seek Help

Remember, a research paper helper is right by the corner if you need assistance with the tool or even your assignment. We at My Assignment Services take huge pride in highlighting our team of professionals. The experienced professionals in our team have years of experience and expertise in using these tools and helping students in their coursework. However, these professionals do not only work as technical support to you but also as academic mentors. These professionals provide you with academic mentorship to learn about your coursework and your course to help you excel in your academic objectives. Do not hesitate to reach out to us for more information. This is the “100 days, 100+ tools” series for all our students. Here, we provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to use the tools for your academic requirements and excel in your academic career with the right efforts!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is PubMed run by the government?

Yes, PubMed is run by the government, which includes NCBI, NLM and NIH. NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) is part of the NLM (National Library of Medicine). NLM is a branch of the NIH (National Institutes of Health), and these all are under the government.

What is the disadvantage of PubMed?

One disadvantage of PubMed is that it does not provide free access to all the articles. Some of the articles either require subscription or access through an instituitional affiliation.

Is everything on PubMed free?

Yes, everything on PubMed is free. However, some certain articles are not free to access by the students. Either you have to pay for the subscription or will require an institutional affiliation.

Why are some papers not on PubMed?

The reason some papers are not on PubMed is because they have not been indexed by the selection committee. This is often because PubMed’s selection committee does not find the selection criteria to be met. Other than this, some publications may choose not to index their articles.