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PubMed @ UMSL: Basics

Step-by-step guide to PubMed's basic features.

Full Text Links

In PubMed @ UMSL, you have a better-than-average chance of finding free full-text articles associated with the citations because

  • UMSL purchases subscriptions to journals and allows students, faculty, and staff to access the journals free of charge
  • Many journal publishers use PubMed Central (PMC) as their archive; PMC includes thousands of journals comprising more than 10 million full-text articles
  • If UMSL Library does not have access to the article, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan at no cost to you

 A   In Summary view, if free full text is available, you will usually see a Free PMC article or Free article link between the title and abstract.

Screenshot of two summary results. The first includes a Free PMC Article link, in the space under the title, and the second includes a Free Article link in the same place. Both these links have been circled and labled A.
 

 B   Sometimes UMSL will have access to articles that don't display such a link. To check, copy the article’s title and paste it into Discover@UMSL (the search tool on the library’s homepage) to see if a PDF is available. 

Screenshot of a summary result that does not include a full text link from A. the title is circled and labled B. An arrow leads to a screenshot of the Discover@UMSL tool with the title pasted into the search bar, also circled and labled B. An arrow leads from this to a summary result with a PDF Full Text button at the bottom of the summary, also circled and labeled B.
 

 C   In Abstract view and on the detailed record pages, button-style links are used, making the source of the articles clear at a glance. The examples shown below are from two different results. The first button in each row directs you to the publisher’s website; open access articles are free, but other publishers’ full-text articles often are not, so always try buttons that say “free,” “open access,” or “UMSL” first. There’s no need to pay for articles!

Two examples of full-text buttons for an article in Abstract view. The first row shows an Elsevier Full-Text Article link, along with a Find It @ UMSL link. The second row shows links for The Lancet Open Access, Free Full Text PMC, and Find it @ UMSL. All these are in different styles, fonts, and use different colors to make them stand out from each other. All are circled and labeled C.

Clicking on the Find it @ UMSL button will pull up a new, Full Text Finder Results page. You may see one or more resource links that will take you to a PDF, or you’ll see a Request this Item Through Interlibrary Loan link. If you place an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) request, you’ll receive an email with a link to the article’s PDF within a few days. If you don't receive an email, check your spam folder. 

 TIP  If an article looks promising, pay attention to the authors and keywords.

  • An author will often write multiple articles that explore a single subject, and you can find those articles by clicking on their name.
  • Keywords can offer other terms to search or suggest areas of focus for your paper if you haven’t yet settled on a topic.

Filtering on Full Text Availability

To reduce some of your frustration, it may be worthwhile to filter your results so you only see articles that are available in full text or free full text.

 NOTE  Provided you've built time for research into your schedule, you have choices!

  • The Free full text filter will more or less guarantee access to free articles, but the trade-off is that you will see far fewer results.
  • The Full text filter will give you a moderate number of results and may still include a lot of free articles not caught by the other filter.
  • Recommended: Applying no text availability filter will pull up all relevant results, and the librarians and staff at UMSL Libraries can help you get you what you need.