Literature Search on the Net

R.Raveendran
Professor of Pharmacology
JIPMER, Pondicherry
When you are looking for a specific article :
Log on to the journal website and download the
article/abstract

e.g. Alternative methods for the LD50 test. Amy

Rispin et al. ILAR Journal, volume 43, number
4 page 233-243 2002
When you need to search literature for a
topic :
Log on to Indexing services , Net Search
Engines, journal databases, Review
databases or article repositories
e.g. Topic : Diabetic foot
Index database : PubMed
Search Engines : Google
Journal Database : IndMed, EBSCO,
ScienceDirect
Review database : Cochrane
Article repositories : ???
Search the following sites (topic search)

PubMed
Google / Google Scholar
IndMed / MedInd

When you do not know the URL (site

address)
Log on to Google (www.google.com) and enter
keywords that best describe the site
Topic Search Tips
Start with a broad term

If the number of articles listed is enormous or too

many, focus your search with specific keywords
e.g. Diabetes
Diabetes AND Foot
Diabetes AND Foot NOT Fungal

PubMed alone is not enough

Many Indian journals not indexed.
Info pertaining to India may be missed.
General info (e.g. history etc.) may not be available.
Article Search Tips (esp. for full text)
Start at the journal URL (site address)

If you do not know the URL, find the same with

Google

You can also try journal listings such as

www.freemedicaljournals.com

On payment or free download?

Ask the authors for a reprint find out the email ID

of the corresponding author
To conclude

When you want to search articles for a topic, use

PubMed EBSCO
Google Scholar MDConsult
IndMed NML
Online Access (Central Library)

When you need to get a full article, search

Journal website, Free medical journal
Directory of open access journals (DOAJ)
EBSCO, NML, MDConsult, NML, Online Access
To conclude..

When you a review on some topic, browse

Cochrane database, Uptodate, MDConsult

When you need images

Google Images, Ebsco

When you need general / other info

Go to specific sites - WHO website, BNF (or)
Use search engines - Google, Yahoo, Bing &
find out the specific link

Books - Google Books, Paid Book databases

Thank you for
listening