Major Changes Coming to PubMed
PubMed has undergone a significant redevelopment and the new version is now available
for users to begin testing. The National Library of Medicine has released the new
version of PubMed; ETSU-affiliated users should access it via https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?otool=tnetsuslib to ensure links to our library collections are available. The existing version of PubMed continues to be available and searchable, and will remain in place until
spring 2020 when it is expected to be fully replaced by the new version.
The Medical Library is working to understand all of the changes to PubMed in the new
interface. The following represent early observations and the interface is likely
to continue to change:
- It appears to be intended for easier use on mobile devices with more responsive design.
- Options for copying a citation or sending a citation to a citation manager appear to be more straightforward.
- Citations can now be more easily shared to social media (Facebook and Twitter).
- However, it also appears to make many advanced search features less visible or harder
to use, potentially creating barriers for advanced searchers who have learned techniques
to make their searches more complete and more efficient.
- For example, Search Details are more difficult to view and cannot currently be edited - users have to cut and paste prior searches in order to modify them.
- The lack of visibility for Search Details makes it more difficult to determine what automated term mapping PubMed is performing, making the actual search process less transparent (this may be of special concern to researchers working on systematic reviews).
- New PubMed also no longer has a limit on truncated terms, meaning there is no longer the helpful cue that the truncation has many more versions than intended and may need revision.
- Your search History and Details continue to be found under the "Advanced Search" link, which users may not find intuitive.
- MyNCBI personalization features are not yet fully integrated into the new interface. An option to save to "favorites" is available but does not currently seem to link to a user's preexisting list of Collections.
- To be sure you're on the version of new PubMed that includes links to our subscriptions, access it via https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?otool=tnetsuslib. Links to our library's subscribed journals will not appear next to citations in the new PubMed if you access it via the banner link in legacy PubMed or go there directly via Google results; this will make it more difficult to see what journal articles are freely available locally. Please contact us if you have any questions about article availability. (All authorized users will need to be on the campus network or authenticate with their ETSU username and password in order to access our subscribed holdings via either version of PubMed.)
- The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) database and search functions are not yet well integrated into new PubMed, making it more difficult for expert users who use MeSH to construct high quality searches (including systematic review searches).
- The search result sort order may be altering the total set of results. Some users have experienced a different number of results when sorting by "Best Match" vs. "Most Recent." It is unclear whether this will continue to be the case.
As we learn more, we will be offering support and trainings to ETSU faculty, staff, and students. Please contact us with questions via https://www.etsu.edu/medlib/services/ask.php or contact Emily Weyant (weyant@etsu.edu) to schedule a group instruction session. At this time we encourage you to play around with the new PubMed in preparation for legacy PubMed to go away next year, but recommend continued use of legacy PubMed while it is available, particularly when detailed/rigorous/efficient searches are desired.
The National Library of Medicine has a brief overview with links to additional resources at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd19/nd19_pubmed_new.html.