Author Archives: Marina

Similar Articles Search in PubMed

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The Similar articles feature is one of many built-in tools that PubMed offers for finding references. This tool works by using a specific article as a starting point, and using it’s own internal algorithm identifies articles that are similar to the original article within PubMed. The similar articles tool is especially helpful if you cannot find a sufficient number of relevant references by conducting a regular search in PubMed.

Similar articles to a specific article can be located by scrolling down the record (it’s found directly underneath the abstract and conflict of interest statement), or you jump directly to the section of the page for Similar articles found in Page Navigation on the right-hand column of the record.

Under the Similar articles heading you will see several references listed and you will find the rest of references when clicking See all similar articles beneath. The number of references found this way typically is manageable, not overly large.

As was mentioned above, there is an underlying algorithm that determines what Similar Articles search finds, i.e. determines the criteria for the relevance of these references to the one you’ve used to find them.

It is possible that what the algorithm determined was important to focus on from the initial article to retrieve similar citations is not the part of reason you selected the article as relevant. You may see a mix of references that match the topic of your initial reference very closely and the ones that are less relevant but still related. The default sorting order of this search results is always Best Match, with most relevant (as determined by the search algorithm) on the top but you may find very relevant references down the list of search results as well.

Just as you would in a traditional PubMed search, within the Similar Articles portion you can adjust the results by changing the sorting order or using the filters found on the left-hand pane – with some caution. You can also click on Advanced under the search box and use the Search Builder and History and Search Details to combine your Similar articles search (expressed as Similar articles for PMID number of an original article) with other searches or build on it.


NOTE: it is most important to remember is that in most cases, for best results, Similar Articles search should be complementary to a regular PubMed search and not the main method of searching.

WHO Finds Aspartame a Possible Carcinogen, Obesity and Cancer and More

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  • The World Health Organization (WHO) released two reports informing that a popular artificial sweetener, Aspartame, may cause cancer. Aspartame is used as a sweetener in diet sodas, chewing gums, and other food products. While occasional consumption of products containing Aspartame can hardly do any damage, the harm can come from consuming the substance in large doses, Children are more likely to be at risk as they use products containing Aspartame more often than adults, and the implication is that it would be best to limit such products consumption. The article related to the issue was published in Lancet Oncology. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) disagreed with the conclusion that the studies on Aspartame support classifying Aspartame as a possible carcinogen.
  • Scientists from Scotland discovered the exact mechanism of how bowel cancer evades immune system surveillance, which was a mystery to the biomedical community for quite a long time. This discovery paves the way to “potentially reversing or preventing this process”. The study was published in Cancer Immunology Research.
  • Scientists from Harvard and several other institutions in the U.S. created an AI tool that could decode a brain tumor’s DNA to determine its molecular type during surgery. This information could otherwise take days to weeks to obtain. This information enables neurosurgeons to decide how to proceed best in the Operating Room. The tool, called CHARM (Cryosection Histopathology Assessment and Review Machine), while freely available to other researchers, must be clinically validated and cleared by the FDA before being used in hospitals. The report on this tool was published in the journal Med.
  • A new observational study contributed to the body of evidence linking obesity to cancer. The study was led by researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in collaboration with researchers from Spain and Germany. The study followed up 2.6 million Catalan adults for the median period of 9 years, it “showed that longer duration of, greater degree of, and younger age of onset of overweight and obesity during early adulthood (ages 18–40 years) are positively associated with the risk of developing 18 cancer types.” The study was published in Nature Communications.
  • Scientists from Yale University conducted research that can “help predict, treat, or even prevent side effects” of immunotherapy. So far, predicting which patients are susceptible to developing side effects from immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors and which healthy organs will take the toll is impossible. Side effects may lead to either suspending immunotherapy treatment or prescribing immunosuppressants, which could negatively interfere with immunotherapy. The study was published in Nature.

The 2023 Journal Citation Report is Here!

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In June of 2023, the latest update of Journal Citation Reports (JCR) was released by Clarivate. As each year’s JCR release offers the previous year’s data, this latest release provides 2022 data.

The JCR (sourced from Web of Science Core Collection) is a database that offers journal metrics which are helpful for comparing journal rankings, or relative standing of journals, within a field/discipline. As such, this database, along with other resources, is often used by the authors for determining the most appropriate journal for submitting their manuscript.

Clarivate has made the following changes in this year’s release (they only impact the 2022 data released in June 2023 and were not retroactively applied to previous years):

  • Expanded JIF coverage
    The Journal Impact Factor (JIF) is now extended to all Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection journals, including those indexed in the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI) and the multidisciplinary Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). Thus, JIF is now applied to all editorially selected, quality journals, including open access, niche, and regional journals
  • Altered JIF presentation
    The JIF has been reduced to one decimal place rather than the previously used three decimal places. According to Clarivate, the change has been made to encourage users to consider other indicators and descriptive data in the JCR when comparing journals.

This year’s release allows researchers to quickly identify which journals in over 250 disciplines were cited most often, explore citing journals, affiliations and geographic locations of contributing authors, and other analytics.

To access the Library’s JCR subscription, use MSK Library’s A-Z Database list. If you need more information about this resource, please don’t hesitate to ASK US.