When browsing your search results list in PubMed you have different options to help you navigate the list. They are related to the sort order of your search results, the format of records to view, and the ability to initially select references and put them aside to look at them closely later, as well as make changes to your selection(s). These options are explained below in more detail.

Changing Sort Order

You may change the default sort order of your search results depending on your search objective.

1. If you need to find some most relevant articles quickly or your search topic is not time sensitive you may use Best Match sort order which is the PubMed default. Your most relevant search results (as determined by an internal algorithm) are found on the top of the results list and results may become less relevant as you go down the list. However, since there are no perfect algorithms, you may actually find the references you like most are not on the top but further down the results list.
2. In other instances, you may want to see the most recent references at the top of your search results list, which is typical in most searches in the field of biomedicine. For that you will need to change the default. Click on the Display Option next to the Sort By in the right corner above the search results and change Best Match to Most Recent or Publication Date (with an arrow looking downward) from the drop down box.
3. Sometimes you may prefer to see the oldest references first (when conducting a History of Medicine search, for example) and you may want to re-sort your results list in an ascending chronological order by clicking the Publication Date option with an upward arrow.

NOTE: Once you change the Sort By default, PubMed will remember your most recent selection and make it a default for you until you change it again. This may not work if you are on Virtual Desktop though.

Viewing Abstracts

You may also choose the format of references in your search results list.
If you want to browse the search results and read the abstracts at the same time you may do any of the following:

1. Click on the articles’ titles to see the abstracts – one at a time
2. Click on the Display Options and change the Format from Summary to Abstract to see the search results list in the abstract format

Displaying search results as a PMID list

New PubMed was enhanced with the new PubMed IDs display capabilities. You may display your search results as the list of PMIDs by clicking Display Options > Format > PMID. This will allow copying the PMID list to a document or e-mail and, when needed, restoring the references by pasting the PMIDs back in Pubmed search box and searching on them (see an older post on searching by PMIDs).

Sending to Clipboard

If you want to select references first and look at your selection in more detail later (such as if you are running multiple searches) use the Clipboard feature. Select (check mark) references when browsing the search results list; when done – click on Send To button above the search results and click Clipboard. You will be prompted to go to Clipboard immediately but you can do it any time before you shut down your computer – the moment you put something in Clipboard the Clipboard link appears under the PubMed search box.

In Clipboard, you may review your selected references again and make other choices, e.g. delete references from Clipboard. You also have the same options in Clipboard as in the search results list, e.g. you can send the references to your My NCBI account, or send to Citation Manager. Clipboard Details in Advanced Search (Clipboard is always the last line in the History and Search Details) are displayed as a PMID list.

NOTE: References will disappear from Clipboard after 8 hours of inactivity.

Global Data:

• World Health Organization WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard
  • Visualized data at the regional and country level of cases and deaths
• Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center
  • Aggregated and analyzed data on tracking and testing for every country

US Data:

• CDC COVID Data Tracker
  • Visualized data at the state and county level of total cases and deaths as well as trends
  • Visualized data at the state level of cumulative testing
• Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center
  • Aggregated and analyzed data and reports on tracking and testing at the state and county level
• New York Times COVID-19 Data
  • Downloadable raw data
  • County, state, and national level data
  • Live and historical data of confirmed and probable cases and deaths

New York State Data:

• NYSDOH COVID-19 Tracker
  • Visualized data on cases, testing and fatality by county
• New York State Statewide COVID-19 Testing
  • Downloadable raw data on testing and cases, both new and cumulative by county

New York City Data:

• NYC Health Coronavirus Data
  • Downloadable raw data on COVID-19 testing, cases, and deaths
  • Break data down by borough, poverty, age group, gender, race, and zip code
• NYC Health COVID-19 Data
  • Visualized data on cases, deaths, hospitalizations, and testing
  • Historical data

The MSK Nursing staff work at different locations and it is important for them to be able to access information resources that support their daily work activities.

Recognizing the fact that nurses beyond our main campus need to have easy access to online resources from anywhere, the MSK Library offers a suite of online information resources intended for all healthcare professionals, some focusing specifically on the nursing community as the primary audience.

Below we provide an overview of select online resources and services most useful for Nurses.

ONESEARCH
ONESEARCH is the search engine built into the Library’s Website, and it allows for searching for available resources and databases. It also serves as a library catalog which allows finding print and electronic books, journals and other items. Lastly, it allows for finding journal articles available in full text via MSK Library subscriptions (as such this tool is complementary to searching bibliographic databases) as well as requesting materials outside of the library’s collection using our Document Delivery service.

LibGuides
LibGuides are customized information portals developed by the Research Informationists and there are currently six LibGuides devoted to our Nursing Community including a general one on Nursing Resources. Access to all LibGuides is from the Library Website (once on the Website, look for the header LibGuides, located at the lower left-hand side of the screen).

Databases
PubMed – USA government database of journal articles in life sciences, medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary science and health professions.

CINAHL – proprietary database of literature in Nursing and Allied Health (indexes journal articles, both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed, newsletter articles, dissertations).

JBI Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Databases – smaller, curated database with evidence summaries and evidence based practice recommendations in Nursing.

Embase – a European-based proprietary database similar to PubMed in scope; unlike PubMed indexes conference abstracts in addition to full articles.

PsycINFO – Psychiatry and Psychology dedicated proprietary database.

Scopus and Web of Science – interdisciplinary science databases with an added bonus of citing the reference (times cited, etc.); unlike dedicated biomedical databases listed above which have an enhanced functionality of mapping search terms to subject headings, these two databases are searched with keywords only.

HAPI Health and Psychosocial instruments – a proprietary database which indexes literature on surveys, questionnaires and other instruments.

AMED Allied and Complementary Medicine – a proprietary database of peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles which focuses on alternative and complementary medicine.

All databases listed above, including PubMed, need to be accessed from the Library Website. Additional databases and web resources can be found under the Databases tab.

E-journals and Full Text
While e-journal titles can be found in OneSearch and under the eJournals tab, the best way of finding journal articles is by searching bibliographic databases.

Full Text: Getting Full Text – explains how to get the full text of articles and other MSK subscribed resources. Most of all instructions are provided on how to use ILLiad Document Delivery for items not immediately available in full text.

E-books
Textbooks and e-book collections that the MSK Library subscribes to has been previously covered in an past blog post. The ways of finding and accessing e-books have also been discussed in another past blog post.

Support materials (drug information, calculators, patient education materials, coding materials)
Support materials found on e-book platforms were covered in a past blog post.

Library Tools
The Library supports the following Citation Management programs for organizing your references and creating bibliographies:
EndNote
RefWorks
Papers3
SciWheel

Library Services for Learning and Research
Ask Us provides links to forms needed to request different types of Library reference and research assistance, e.g. literature search requests, research consultations, Chat service, etc.

Systematic Review Service explains steps in conducting a Systematic Review, lists links to select resources and provides guidance on how to seek library assistance when conducting this type of research investigation.

Learning Lab offers training opportunities, now via video conferencing tools in database (e.g. PubMed) searching, Citation Management (e.g. EndNote), evidence-based practice, etc. Check out our calendar view for upcoming workshops.

If you have any questions or want to learn more about available library services and resources, just Ask Us!