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MEDLINE Indexing Online Training Course

Category V - Publication Characteristics

NEWS (PT)

The Publication Type News will be used for items about recent events or discoveries in life sciences. A News item is easily recognizable; it often appears in a special section of the journal and is usually labelled News by the journal. These items are usually short and are indexed non-depth.
News (PT) cannot be used with Journal Article (PT).

It is important to emphasize that Publication Types Letter, Editorial and News cannot be used with Publication Type Journal Article. The following Publication Types described below can be used with Journal Article (PT).

CASE REPORTS (PT)

The Publication Type Case Reports will be used for any article containing a clinical presentation of one or more patients. The indexer will use the Case Reports (PT) for articles, which consist solely of the clinical history of a single patient or multiple patients. The indexer will also use this Publication Type if the case history is only a small part of the article.

Case Reports (PT) are easily recognized because the words Case Report, Case Study, or Case History almost always appear in the body of the article or in the title. Usually the age and sex of the patient(s) is given, and therefore, the appropriate check tags should be used.

Case Reports (PT) requires at least one additional Publication Type. Usually, this will be Journal Article (PT), but sometimes it will be Letter (PT) or Editorial (PT).

Last Reviewed: April 15, 2015