FAQ on USA and PubMed

PubMed is an open access medical database maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).  

NCBI is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), itself part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a US government agency for medical research. The NIH is in turn part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a department within the US federal government.  

PubMed contains about 38 million references. The largest part of its content consists of the Medline database. Medline consists of articles from more than 5,200 journals that have been quality-reviewed and approved by the NLM. Medline contains articles from 1946 and onwards. Articles are indexed using MeSH terms.  

Another part of PubMed consists of references from the full-text archive PubMed Central (PMC), which includes references to articles published by NIH-funded researchers. For more information on the differences between Medline and PubMed, see this article. 

There is a team at the University Library continuously monitoring conditions surrounding content and access to PubMed. The University Library has data corresponding to the entire NIH/NLM medical database PubMed downloaded locally in the form of XML files. New data is downloaded on a weekly basis from the NLM. Data from 1995 onwards is available via KI:s bibliometric system and is updated on a weekly basis. Currently, the searchability of this data is limited outside the University Library.  

As part of the process of updating data in the bibliometric system, the University Library runs two monitoring programmes intended to identify any changes in the data, for instance

• If data is deleted at an unusually high rate. If this occurs, automatic updates of the bibliometric database are cancelled and changes checked manually. (About 200-500 publications are normally deleted per week as part of NLM's ongoing quality work).
• If there are changes to content indexed with MeSH terms linked to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), such as Climate Change, Abortifacient Agents and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. 

At present, there is no evidence that publications are being removed to a greater extent than is usual in PubMed, nor that content in the database is being modified due to the presence of specific MeSH terms or keywords.  

However, ongoing changes to the NIH may in the future indirectly affect content in PubMed. For instance, the NIH is currently reviewing its funding of various research projects, as well as its financial support of certain medical journals. It has withdrawn financial support for research projects in areas such as maternal health, global health and medical journals focused on the climate and the environment. This will affect US research in instances where reallocation of research funding and financial support has failed. 

Yes, for now, you can still in good faith search for scientific publications in PubMed. Yet keep in mind that PubMed is owned and managed by US authorities, and that ongoing political developments in the US may eventually have an impact on PubMed’s content. It is always worthwhile to consider who owns and manages the scientific databases you use.  

At the University Library, we offer access to several different medical databases that you can use to search for scientific material. 

Information about some of these databases available through the University Library.  

Germany's national infrastructure and research hub for data and information in life sciences, ZB MED, is working to secure access to medical research by developing an open, reliable and sustainable alternative to PubMed. They have secured current publication data in PubMed and are working to secure future access to new research publications in the field of medicine as well. Read more about their ongoing work.  

Embase

Embase is a large database of references in biomedicine, pharmacology and toxicology. It contains almost all of MEDLINE but not all of the other material currently available in PubMed. Elsevier, which runs Embase, maintain they are working to keep the database updated with the latest content, regardless of what is happening at the NIH; this according to information received by the University of Exeter. As a KI affiliate, you have access to Embase. Here you can read more about how to search in Embase. 

Medline (Ovid)

Medline Medline is also searchable via interfaces other than PubMed, such as Ovid. Ovid Medline is available in several versions with different content. As a KI affiliate, you have access to Ovid MEDLINE® (All), which contains all the material available in PubMed, i.e., both Medline and additional content. Here you can read more about how to search in Ovid Medline. 

Web of Science

Web of Science is a large multidisciplinary reference and citation database. It consists of ten different indexes. Exactly what is included depends on the type of subscription you have. As a KI affiliate, you have access to the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index, the Arts & Humanities Citation Index and the Emerging Sources Citation Index. These indexes contain material from 1900 onwards. Web of Science is produced by Clarivate Analytics. Web of Science is a good alternative and complement to PubMed because it is a large, broad quality-controlled database. Read more about how to search Web of Science here. 

Europe PMC

Content in PubMed consists partly of data from the NIH/NLM full-text archive PubMed Central (PMC). Content in Pubmed and PMC is mirrored in the Europe PMC platform, which is operated and developed by the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Content in the Europe PMC is largely derived from its partnership with PMC but also includes preprints, microPublications, patents, NHS clinical guidelines and Agricola records. Read more about content in the Europe PMC here.