PubMed Central® Limits Page Improved
t he PubMed Central (PMC) Limits page now offers improved searching by author, journal, and date as well as by article types or within specified fields (Tag Terms) (see Figure 1).
Limiting Searches by Author or Journal
To search by author, click Add Author. The author search box, which includes an autocomplete feature, will be displayed. Enter a name in the Author name box to see a list of suggested names (see Figure 2); this list shortens as you type more letters. Select the author name you are looking for when it appears.
To add more authors, click Add Another Author. By default, if you add multiple authors, all the names selected are included in your search -- the All these authors option (see Figure 3) using the Boolean operator AND. To search for any authors, click the Any of these radio button which uses the Boolean operator OR. To delete an author search box, click the remove link. Author names will automatically move to the PMC search box when you click Go.
To search by journal, click Add Journal. A journal search box, which includes an autocomplete feature, will be displayed. Enter a name in the journal name box to get a list of suggested names. This list includes journals that participate in PMC (including earlier names for a journal, if applicable) as well as author manuscripts from other journals provided through the NIH Manuscript Submission System. Select the journal title you are looking for when it appears.
To add more journals, click the Add Another Journal link. When multiple journals are selected, search results include any of the selected journals. Journal titles will automatically move to the PMC search box when you click Go.
Limiting Searches by Dates
You may limit your search to articles published or added to PMC by a pre-set date range (see Figure 4) or you may enter any desired date range (see Figure 5). Date limits remain in effect for subsequent searches unless you change them or turn them off (see Turning Limits on or off).
Limiting Searches by Article Types
To limit your search by article type, click the checkbox next to each desired type (see Figure 6). It is important to note that the Article Types limits are not based on MeSH® publication type terms, but are drawn from information provided by publishers.
By default, if you select multiple article types, any of the article types selected are included in your search (Any of these article types). To search for all article types instead of any article types, click the All of these article types radio button, or click None of these article types to exclude certain article types from your search.
Article Types limits remain in effect for subsequent searches unless you change them or turn them off (see Turning Limits on or off).
Tag Terms
To limit search terms to a specific citation field or by Text Word, choose a field from the Tag Terms menu located at the bottom of the PMC Limits page.
Turning Limits on or off
When limits are active, a check appears in the Limits tab and your selected limits are indicated in a yellow bar (see Figure 7). To turn off limits, click off the Limits tab checkbox and run a new search. Author and journal selections will only be included in subsequent searches if they are not cleared from the PMC search box.
Desierto M. PubMed Central® Limits Page Improved. NLM Tech Bull. 2007 Mar-Apr; (355):e14.
