Select & Download
Once you find good articles for your paper or research project it is a good idea to store the Pubmed citations. Remember, that even if you print out the full-text of the article, you will need a copy of the citation for your reference list.
It is possible to store selected PubMed records temporarily on the the PubMed Clipboard, or permanently by creating Collections in My NCBI. You can also send them to anyone via email or save them to a file on your own computer.
While searching, click in the box next to the PubMed record to select items.
Click on the Send to drop down box to choose the output option for your selected items. Send to options also work for the entire results set when no items are marked.
The Clipboard provides temporary storage for selected items. It allows you to save citations from various searches so that you can move them to more permanent storage in one step.
Once you have added items to the Clipboard an asterisk will appear on the tab.
At the end of your search session, click on the Clipboard tab and use the Send to options on the Clipboard page to move your selections to a permanent place.
Send to Collections allows you to store items in a permanent My NCBI space. When you select Send to Collections you are first sent to a screen to log in to My NCBI. If you have not yet set up an account, click on the Register for an account link.
Once you have registered or signed in you can create a new collection or append additional citations to an existing collection. Be sure to name the collection so that you can identify it later.
When you return to PubMed, click on the My NCBI Sign In link and log in with the user name and password you selected. After signing in you will need to click on My NCBI to access stored collections.
On the My NCBI page click on My Saved Data / Collections to see the list of your collections. Then click on the collection link to return the selected items to the PubMed screen.
After selecting the Send to Email option be sure to review the default settings before entering your email address and clicking the Mail button.:
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Change the format setting to abstract so that you receive the Find @ UNC button and can quickly link to information about online access.
- Change the total number of items to send so that it is larger than the total number of items in your selection.
The Send to File option allows you to save the citations on your own computer.
Change the Display to MEDLINE first whenever you plan to save results to import into a bibliographic reference program such as RefWorks or EndNote.
RefWorks and EndNote are types of reference management software. They are tools to help you create a personal database of citations and format reference bibliographies when you write.
Campus libraries have purchased online access to RefWorks for UNC-Chapel Hill people. See the RefWorks Quick Tips for access information. EndNote can be purchased and loaded on your computer. See this chart to compare the programs.
To move a single reference to a RefWorks account click on the Find @ UNC button. Scroll down to the Export to RefWorks link at the bottom of the Find @ UNC page.
Use the following steps to move groups of article references from PubMed to one of these programs:
- Display selected search results in MEDLINE format
- Save MEDLINE formatted results by choosing File from the Send To dropdown list
- Save the file to your computer
- Log on to RefWorks or open EndNote
- Select Import
- Set the import filter to PubMed
- Browse to select the file with your results
More detailed help with this process can be found in the following guides:
 Find Less Find Full Articles 
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