September 30, 2009 [posted]

LinkOut® in the PubMed® Redesign

[Editor's note: See the articles Preview of PubMed® Redesign Coming and PubMed® Redesign for additional information.]

ibrary LinkOut and Outside Tool icons

The new PubMed interface will display the Library LinkOut and Outside Tool icons on the Abstract format. Library icons are still activated by accessing PubMed through a special URL or by selecting a LinkOut Library as a filter in My NCBI.

Libraries using LinkOut should continue to use the URL below to activate their icons in PubMed:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?holding=NameAbbr

NameAbbr is a library's LinkOut user name

Similarly, libraries using Outside Tool should continue to use this URL to activate their icons:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?otool=OutsideToolusername

Libraries using shared My NCBI account to activate should continue to use:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?myncbishare=MyNCBIusername

MyNCBIusername is the username for the shared My NCBI account

When a single citation is displayed, the icons are in the upper right corner (see Figure 1). When more than one citation is displayed in the Abstract format, the icons are found beneath the abstract (see Figure 2).

Please note it is recommended that libraries update the URLs used to access PubMed to //www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed (see URL examples above).

Screen capture of Library LinkOut and Outside Tool icons in Abstract display for a single citation.

Figure 1: Library LinkOut and Outside Tool icons in Abstract display for a single citation.

Figure 2: Library LinkOut and Outside Tool icons in Abstract display for multiple citations.

In the new PubMed interface, the maximum icon size for Library LinkOut and publisher icons has changed to 120 pixels wide by 30 pixels high. Library and publisher icons larger than 120x30 will be automatically reduced to fit the size limit. Libraries that wish to update their icons can do so by entering an icon URL or uploading an icon file through the Submission Utility.

Library Holdings Filter

Libraries that select a filter for their LinkOut holdings in a My NCBI shared account will see the filter listed under "Filter your results" section of the display (see Figure 3).

Figure 3: Library holdings filter and custom filter under "Filter your results."

"Filter your results" provides the same functionality as the former filter tabs. Clicking on a library filter link narrows results to citations found in a library's LinkOut holdings.

To see the filters selected in My NCBI, libraries continue to access PubMed through the URL.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?myncbishare=MyNCBIusername

LinkOut Information

The LinkOut information shows all full text and supplemental information links available for a PubMed citation. The former LinkOut Display format was absorbed by the new Abstract display. You must display a single item in the Abstract format to access the LinkOut information. The LinkOut information is located below the abstract and users will need to expand the plus sign (+) next to "LinkOut - more resources" to see the full text and supplemental information links available there (see Figure 4). This information will not be automatically expanded using the My NCBI preference to automatically open the supplemental information. When displaying multiple records in the Abstract format, the LinkOut option will not be included.

Screen capture of LinkOut - more resources full text and supplementary information links in Abstract display for a single citation.

Figure 4: LinkOut - more resources full text and supplementary information links in Abstract display for a single citation.

The "LinkOut Holdings" link (see Figure 4) will only be included with the LinkOut information if users access PubMed through a URL that includes one of the following parameters: holding=, myncbishare=, or otool= (see complete URLs above). The "LinkOut Holdings" link leads to an alphabetical list of libraries that offer electronic full text access or hold the print version of the article in their collections (see Figure 5).

Alphabetical list of libraries with electronic full text and print.

Figure 5: Alphabetical list of libraries with electronic full text and/or print.

Using Single Citation Matcher and Clinical Queries with LinkOut

To activate library icons using Single Citation Matcher and Clinical Queries, use the below URLs.

Single Citation Matcher with LinkOut:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/citmatch?holding=NameAbbr

Single Citation Matcher with Outside Tool:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/citmatch?otool=OutsideToolusername

Single Citation Matcher with MyNCBI:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/citmatch?myncbishare=MyNCBIusername

Clinical Queries with LinkOut:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/clinical?holding=NameAbbr

Clinical Queries with Outside Tool:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/clinical?otool=OutsideToolusername

Clinical Queries with MyNCBI:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pubmedutils/clinical?myncbishare=MyNCBIusername

Single Citation Display

The default display format in the new PubMed interface will be the Abstract display format. Consequently, libraries that are currently using the parameter dr= in conjunction with their special URLs will no longer need to specify a display format.

Similarly, in My NCBI the Single Citation Display options available under PubMed Preferences will no longer be available in the new PubMed interface.

Please send your questions or comments to lib-linkout@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

By Lidia Hutcherson
National Center for Biotechnology Information

Hutcherson L. LinkOut® in the PubMed® Redesign. NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Sep-Oct;(370):e17.