MEDLINE Reloaded to Include Two New Fields

PM  PubMed Identifier [Phrase Indexed]

The PubMed Identifier (PM) field contains the PubMed number first assigned by NLM. This number is another unique identifier of the records.

SB  Journal Subset [Phrase Indexed]

The MEDLINE database is divided into subsets of journals in eleven broad categories.  In the past, these were part of CANCERLIT.  With the year 2001 changes, NLM has incorporated these subsets into MEDLINE itself.  To see the Journal Subset, you should use the Limit to Journal Subset. The following is a list of available subset limits.

Abridged Index Medicus
Aids/HIV Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Biotechnology Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Communication Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Consumer Health Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Dentistry Journals
Foreign Journals
Health Administration Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Health Technology Assessment Journals (Non Index Medicus)
Index Medicus
Nursing Journals
Population Journals (Non Index Medicus)

Change to Entry Week Field
The Entry Month field (EM) contains the date (Year, Month and Day) in which a record was completed by NLM. The EM field appears in the format YYYYMMDD.  If a revision to a document has occurred, the EM field will also contain the revision date.
 

Changes in the Labeling of MEDLINE Updates
Due to a change in how Ovid receives data from NLM, the way we label our MEDLINE updates has changed this year. Ovid no longer uses the Entrez date from NLM, which reflected the publication date of the paper Index Medicus. Ovid now uses the date that the update was completed by NLM.

For example, the data will be distributed on the same timetable as in past years; weekly updates will remain weekly. The only noticeable difference is that the date is much more consistent with the data that is actually available in the update.

Please note that the data will be as current as it always has been, and this difference is purely semantics.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact your Ovid Support Representative at (800) 950-2371.