The MEDLINE database: scope
2004 version 2
24 May 2004
Scope
MEDLINE (MEDlars onLINE) is produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in the United States and is the online version of Index Medicus. Its website is http://www.pubmed.gov .
It is broad in coverage and the most well-known and widely used database within the medical field. To give a few facts and figures, MEDLINE now contains over 12 million records, dating from 1966. MEDLINE covers over 4,600 different journal titles, taken from over 70 different countries. At least 70% of records contain abstracts. The BMA library's copy of MEDLINE is updated each month.
The NLM's own interface to MEDLINE is called PubMed. The BMA library's MEDLINE Plus is based on the same database, but it looks different because we use the powerful and commonly-used Ovid software.
There are two other types of MEDLINE records, called PreMEDLINE and OLDMEDLINE. PreMEDLINE records are those provided by publishers which contain author, title and abstract information, but have not yet had the subject headings and other indexing terms added. They appear on the NLM's PubMed site but not on MEDLINE Plus.
OLDMEDLINE contains citations produced between 1951 and 1965. They have no abstracts or subject headings and are searchable via PubMed, and the NLM Gateway at http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/ .
Any questions? Please contact the MEDLINE Plus help desk:
Tel: 020 7383 6224 or 6737
email: info.medline@bma.org.uk
web: http://www.bma.org.uk/medline