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NLM Catalog: Creating Journal Lists

Tybaert S. NLM Catalog: Creating Journal Lists. NLM Tech Bull. 2013 May-Jun;(392):e5.

June 21, 2013 [posted]

The NLM Catalog Filters sidebar has replaced the Limits page. Due to this change, the methods used to create journal lists have changed as well.

Option 1: Filters Sidebar

To create a journal list, you must first run an initial search so that the Filters sidebar displays on the results page.

Enter: all [sb] in the NLM Catalog search box to retrieve all items in the NLM Catalog database (see Figure 1).

Screen capture of the NLM Catalog search to retrieve all items in NLM Catalog
Figure 1: NLM Catalog search to retrieve all items in NLM Catalog.

On the results page, the Journal Subsets are listed at the top of the sidebar on the left. The two default Journal Subset filters are journals "Referenced in the NCBI DBs" and "Currently indexed in MEDLINE." To see additional Journal subsets click on the "More…." link see Figure 2).

The More link leads to these four options, and seven other options limited to currently indexed journals:

  • Only PubMed journals
  • Journals currently or previously indexed in MEDLINE
  • PubMed Central journals
  • PubMed Central forthcoming journals

Options limited to Currently Indexed Journals:

  • Journals in electronic-only format
  • Journals indexed from the electronic version
  • Consumer Health journals
  • Core clinical journals (AIM)
  • Dental journals
  • Index Medicus journals (IM)
  • Nursing journals

Select the journal subset by clicking on the box to the left of the subset name. Then, click "Show" to display your selection in the sidebar (see Figure 2).

Screen capture of the Journal Subsets filter menu
Figure 2: Journal Subsets filter menu.

The selected filter(s) are now displaying on the filter sidebar (see Figure 3). Next, click the desired filter in order to re-run the search with the selected search filter applied.

Screen capture of the Filter selected and search re-run
Figure 3: Filter selected and search re-run.

Under the Results information, a message is displayed indicating that filters are activated and which filter is being used (see Figure 3).

  • Please note that if you select multiple journal subsets, the subsets are searched together using the Boolean operator "OR."
  • If you wish to clear the filter and select a different journal subset, click the "Clear" or "Clear all" link.

Option 2: Search Strings

As an alternative to the Journal Subsets filter feature, you can create journal lists using search strings typed directly into the search box.

  • To create a list of Currently Indexed MEDLINE journals that is equivalent to List of Journals Indexed for MEDLINE (see Figure 4), enter this string in the NLM Catalog search box: currentlyindexed
Screen capture of the search to retrieve list of journals Currently Indexed for MEDLINE
Figure 4: Search to retrieve a list of journals Currently Indexed for MEDLINE.
  • To create a list of Currently or Previously Indexed in MEDLINE journals that is equivalent to the List of Serials Indexed for Online Users (LSIOU) (see Figure 5), enter this string in the NLM Catalog search box: reportedmedline
Screen capture of the search to retrieve list of journals Currently or Previously Indexed for MEDLINE
Figure 5: Search to retrieve a list of journals Currently or Previously Indexed for MEDLINE.

Additional Information

Three NLM Catalog Quick Tours are available via the Distance Education Program Resources page. The Quick Tours cover the following topics:

To read more about the NLM Catalog and Journals searching, see the NLM Technical Bulletin article: Tybaert S. NLM Catalog: New Search Features for Journals Cited in Entrez Databases. NLM Tech Bull. 2010 Nov-Dec;(377):e19.