PubMed: My NCBI

My NCBI is your personal space on the NLM computer system for storing search strategies and PubMed preferences. Your web browser must be set to accept cookies to use My NCBI.

Click on My NCBI from the PubMed navigation sidebar, or at the top right of the PubMed window, to manage your stored searches and search filters.

PubMed My NCBI Registration is required.

Storing a Search and Creating an Automatic Email Alert in My NCBI

1. Run your search in PubMed using any terms and limits needed for your topic.
2. Click 'Save Search' next to the Clear Button.
   
3. Log into My NCBI. A pop-up window (see below) will appear that displays your PubMed search in the box labeled 'Enter a name for your search'.
4. Edit the search name to something short, yet meaningful, e.g. HRT and menopause (100 character maximum).
5. To receive automatic email updates of new search results click the 'Yes' radio button. Options can be set for update frequency , zero results notification, email format, etc.
6. Repeat the process for any additional searches, then click on Log Out.

Notes:
You may store up to 100 searches per User Name.
Stored search strategies cannot be edited - you must delete the old search and create a new one. Update frequency may be edited.

Managing Stored Searches

• Log into My NCBI to display your list of stored searches (see below). The name of each search will display along with the last time the search was run and email alert schedule.
• To retrieve only citations that have been added to PubMed since the last time the search was run, select the stored search(es) you want to update by clicking the check box(es) next to the search name. Then click "What's New for Selected." My NCBI displays the list of searches you selected along with an additional column indicating the number of new items retrieved since the last time you checked. (If there are no new items, My NCBI displays "no new items".) Click on the new number to link to the retrieval.
• To run the search against the entire PubMed database click the saved search name. To see the strategy click the details tab below the search box on the search results page.
• To change update frequency, click the update frequency link in the details column then make changes as needed.
• To delete stored searches, select the stored search(es) you want to remove by clicking the check box next to the My NCBI Search Name. Next, click "Delete Selected Searches."

Filter Preferences

Filters group search results by areas of interest. Filter results with their respective counts for the current search display as tabs, next to the default "All" and "Review" tabs for the total search retrieval. Click on the tab to display the citations grouped by that filter.

Note:You can have up to five active filters using My NCBI

1. Sign in to My NCBI then click the tool icon tool graphic to the right of the filter tabs to link to the Quick Pick list of commonly-requested filters.
2. Click in the boxes to select or deselect filters.
3. Additional view options are: Browse to browse filters by category (subject-related filters are under Properties); Search to search the filter names and descriptions; and My Selections to display the active filters and icon settings.
4. Your filter selections are in effect only when you are signed in to My NCBI.

Filter Preferences: Show UW Online Links

These filters add the UW results tab, and the purple UW links to PubMed in your MyNCBI view. Configuring MyNCBI to show UW Online/UW Holdings journal article icons requires following these steps only one time. The UW preferences should then remain and appear each time you log in.

1. Log in to MyNCBI.
2. Click on "Filters" under "MyNCBI Resources" on the left side menu.
3. From the "Filter Selection" page, Click on PubMed, (found under "To set up your preferred filters, first choose a database:").
4. From the "Filter Selection: grouping search results" page, click on 'Browse'.
5. Click on 'Libraries' (under Configure > PubMed > Linkout).
6. Scroll down the list of libraries to find 'University of Washington Health Sciences Library and UW Libraries (UW)', and click on the link.
7. Check the boxes for "add a result tab" and "add a link icon" for UW libraries.
8. Click on "Outside Tool" under "MyNCBI Resources" on the left side menu.
9. Click the radio button to the left of "University of Washington: Check for UW Holdings".

(revised April 2008)