By creating a free My NCBI account, you can:
A Click the Log In button, located in the top right corner of the page header. When you click on the button for the first time, you will be prompted to sign up with a username and password using one of the accounts listed, such as Google, Microsoft, or NIH. Once you’ve logged in, the Log In link will be replaced with your username and/or an account icon.
PubMed allows you to save citations indefinitely using My NCBI Collections.
B To save a citation, select it by checking the small box to the left of the article title and choose Collections from the Send to menu. If you wish to save all of your results (1,000 maximum), do not make any selections. On the next screen, you will be asked whether you want to create a new collection or add to an existing one.
C In the first example, two items will be saved into a new collection we’re creating named “blood draw babies.”
D In the second example, all results on the page will be added to an existing collection we select in the Choose a Collection dropdown menu. My NCBI provides a Favorites folder as a default collection, but you may find it helpful to create a new collection for each paper or assignment.
E To save a search, click on the Create alert link beneath the search bar.
F The name of the saved search and the search terms will auto-populate, but you can edit them.
G If you only want to save the search and not enroll in e-mail updates, select No.
H If you want to enroll in e-mail updates that alert you when newly added citations match your search criteria, click Yes and adjust the options for frequency, day, format, and number. If you want the full abstract to appear in the email, be sure to choose Abstract as your format. The e-mail address associated with your My NCBI account will be used as the default address.
I To retrieve collected citations or saved searches, click your account username or icon in the page header and select Dashboard.
J The panel at the top of the left column includes a search box so you can run PubMed, MeSH, or other searches directly from the dashboard.
K The My Bibliography panel is in the middle of the left column. If you’ve chosen to save items in My Bibliography rather than in a collection, you’ll see them listed here.
L The Recent Activity panel is at the bottom of the left column.
M The Saved Searches panel is at the top of the right column. This is where searches are stored. If you choose not to create an alert, you can come here to see the number of new items that have been added to PubMed since the date you last performed the search.
N The Collections panel is in the middle of the right column. If you set a collection to Public (rather than Private), you will be able to share a direct URL with a colleague.
O The Filters panel at the bottom of the right column shows any active filters you’ve customized.
You can customize settings throughout the PubMed site by clicking the NCBI Site Preferences link in the top right corner of your My NCBI dashboard. NOTE If you search PubMed without first logging into My NCBI, you will not see any customizations in effect.
P The Highlighting preference allows you to select how your search terms appear in results. For instance, you can make them bold or assign a highlight color, such as green or bright yellow.
Q The Result display setting allows you to have all results appear in Abstract view whenever you are logged in.
