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Table of Contents: 2020 MAY–JUNE No. 434

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The New and Improved PubMed is Here!

Canese K., Chan J., Collins M., Trawick B., Weis S. The New and Improved PubMed is Here! NLM Tech Bull. 2020 May-Jun;(434):e2.

2020 May 19 [posted]
2020 May 19 [Editor's note added]

[Editor's Note: This is a reprint of a blog post published in NLM Musings From the Mezzanine. To automatically receive updates on future posts, please visit the subscribe page.]

Guest post by the PubMed Team at the National Library of Medicine's National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Since our last blog post, our coders have been hard at work preparing for the full transition to the new and improved PubMed. The latest features have been added, and beginning May 18, you can experience the new PubMed too!

The new PubMed features a modern interface with enhanced search results, including highlighted text snippets to help you preview an abstract while scanning your results list, and updated web elements for easier navigation. The new Best Match sort order uses advanced machine-learning technology and a new relevance search algorithm to bring you the top-ranked results.

All of these improvements are intended to connect you with the world's leading sources of biomedical information faster and easier than ever before.

A Great Experience for All Devices

Staying connected is more important than ever. That's why it was one of our primary goals to deliver the same great experience to mobile as well as desktop devices.

Whether you want to create an RSS feed to keep you up to date, save items to a My NCBI collection, or have your perfectly-crafted search automatically deliver the latest results, the responsive design means you can have it all from your phone and your laptop. In fact, responses from our mobile users were so overwhelmingly positive, we decommissioned the old, separate mobile site this past March.

Same as it Ever Was

Once the new PubMed becomes the default site, your existing links will be automatically redirected--meaning you won't need to manually update your links to PubMed citations or search results. Your My NCBI saved searches and collections will continue to work in the new PubMed.

Want to Start Learning to Use the New PubMed?

We recognize that even positive changes can be challenging to adapt to, so we added several resources to help you, and the people you support, navigate the new site. From training to technical support, we've got you covered.

Please take a minute to read the New PubMed Transition FAQs. This page is likely to answer your general questions about the transition.

Our Trainer's Toolkit provides you with instructional materials that you can customize and share. Whether you want to learn about the new PubMed for your own use or to train others, this is a great place to start. The series of nine quick tours, each only 1 to 4 minutes long, can be viewed online or embedded in course management software. You'll also find slide decks, handouts, and webinar recordings all designed for sharing and reuse.

How PubMed® Works is a series of four 90-minute online classes offered by NLM and the National Network of Libraries of Medicine. Recordings will be available for viewing after each session ends for those who can't attend or would like to view the material again.

The comprehensive PubMed User Guide is available from the homepage and under the "Help" link on every page in PubMed. It starts with a list of frequently asked questions, allowing you to jump to short, easy-to-follow instructions for finding and using your favorite features. As with our other resources, you can copy the text into your own training materials, trifolds, and user guides.

We're here to help

Click on the green Feedback button on any screen in the new PubMed to write to the help desk. When the Feedback button is retired, the NLM Support Center link will remain on every page in PubMed. That is the best way to let us know what is--and isn't--working for you.

We're committed to keeping you informed! Subscribe to the NLM Technical Bulletin and PubMed New and Noteworthy for the latest news and new releases.

We're just getting started!

We're always looking for ways to improve PubMed. Just as we've done for the past 24 years, we'll continue to add features and data to stay current as technology, publishing standards, and our users' needs evolve.

Please think about other ways that NLM can help you, and share your ideas with us.

By Kathi Canese, Jessica Chan, Marie Collins, Bart Trawick, & Sarah Weis
National Center for Biotechnology Information

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