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PubMed and NCBI: Home

A guide to assist in signing up for and using this database.

The New and Updated PubMed

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PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health–both globally and personally.

The PubMed database contains more than 30 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. It does not include full-text journal articles; however, links to the full text are often present when available from other sources, such as the publisher's website or PubMed Central (PMC).

Available to the public online since 1996, PubMed was developed and is maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) .

How to Create an Account

To have an account in PubMed, you need to create an NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) account. To do this please complete the following steps:

  1. Click on the login button on the upper right-hand corner of the homepage.
  2. Next choose the option that says “New here? Sign up”.
  3. Then click on create new NCBI Account.
  4. Fill in all fields of information required.
  5. Once submitted, then you are ready to go!

How to Conduct a Search

For many searches, it is not necessary to use special tags or syntax. PubMed uses multiple tools to help you find relevant results:

  • Best Match sort order uses a state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm to place the most relevant citations at the top of your results.
  • An autocomplete feature displays suggestions as you type your search terms. This feature is based on PubMed query log analysis described in "Finding Query Suggestions for PubMed".
  • A spell checking feature suggests alternative spellings for search terms that may include misspellings.
  • A citation sensor displays suggested results for searches that include terms characteristic of citation searching, e.g., author names, journal titles, publication dates, and article titles.
  1. Identify the key concepts for your search. 
  2. Enter the terms (or key concepts) in the search box.
  3. Press the Enter key or click Search.

You may also search by:

  • Author
  • Citation
  • Journal title
  • By date

Best Way to Search for an Article!

Single Citation Matcher

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Can't Find an Article?

Walk-In Interlibrary Loan / Document Delivery Services
The Library no longer accepts walk-in, email, faxed, or printed interlibrary loan or document delivery requests. All requests for articles, books, audiovisuals, etc. need to be requested via ILLiad.
Computers are available at each library location for patrons to log in to their ILLiad account. 
Library staff are happy to assist patrons in creating an ILLiad account.

Online Interlibrary Loan / Document Delivery Services

Service is available to all TTUHSC El Paso library card holders requiring books, photocopies of journal articles, or audiovisuals not available at the library.
 

Interlibrary Loan and Required Textbooks
If you need a textbook for a class, we do not recommend that you request this book through Interlibrary Loan. ILL staff cannot guarantee when books will arrive, and the loan period may not last for the entire semester.  Furthermore, many libraries do not purchase textbooks (or are unwilling to lend textbooks to other libraries); as a result, most ILL requests for textbooks must be canceled.