PubMed Central

PubMed Central is a free digital repository that archives and provides access to the full text of biomedical and life sciences literature, including National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded research, as well as other biomedical research and scientific literature from around the world, including University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Harvard University. It is maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in collaboration with National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and other institutions such as Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The repository contains over 7 million articles from thousands of journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), as well as books and other publications from Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. PubMed Central is closely related to PubMed, a comprehensive database of biomedical literature, and Medline, a database of biomedical literature maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is also used by World Health Organization (WHO) and European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Introduction

PubMed Central is an essential resource for researchers, scientists, and healthcare professionals from Johns Hopkins University and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), providing access to a vast collection of biomedical literature from institutions such as National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The repository is also used by students and educators from University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, as well as policymakers and journalists from The New York Times and BBC News, to stay up-to-date with the latest research and developments in the biomedical sciences, including genomics and proteomics research from Broad Institute and Sanger Institute. PubMed Central is closely linked to other databases and repositories, such as GenBank and Protein Data Bank (PDB), which are maintained by National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB), and provides access to a wide range of biomedical data and resources from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).

History

The concept of PubMed Central was first proposed in the late 1990s by Harold Varmus, then Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and David Lipman, then Director of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), in collaboration with National Science Foundation (NSF) and Wellcome Trust. The repository was launched in 2000, with the goal of providing free access to the full text of biomedical literature and promoting the dissemination of knowledge and innovation in the biomedical sciences, including cancer research from American Cancer Society and American Heart Association (AHA). Since its launch, PubMed Central has grown rapidly, with thousands of journals and publishers participating, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley-Blackwell, and millions of articles archived, including those from Nature Publishing Group and Cell Press.

Content and Scope

PubMed Central contains a wide range of biomedical literature, including research articles, review articles, case reports, and editorials from The Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The repository covers all areas of the biomedical sciences, including medicine, nursing, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, as well as basic sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and University of Chicago. PubMed Central also includes literature from related fields, such as psychology, sociology, and public health from World Bank and United Nations (UN). The repository is updated daily, with new articles added from thousands of journals and publishers, including BioMed Central and Public Library of Science (PLOS).

Submission and Access Policies

Submission to PubMed Central is open to all journals and publishers that meet certain criteria, including peer review and editorial standards from Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authors and publishers can submit their articles to PubMed Central through a variety of mechanisms, including direct submission and deposit from arXiv and bioRxiv. Access to PubMed Central is free and open to anyone with an internet connection, including researchers from University of Tokyo and University of Melbourne, and healthcare professionals from American Medical Association (AMA) and British Medical Association (BMA). The repository is also indexed by major search engines such as Google and Microsoft Bing, making it easily discoverable by users from European Union (EU) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Technical Infrastructure

PubMed Central is built on a robust technical infrastructure that supports the ingestion, processing, and storage of large volumes of biomedical literature from institutions such as National Library of Medicine (NLM) and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The repository uses a variety of technologies, including XML and PDF, to format and display articles, and provides tools and services for searching, browsing, and analyzing the literature from Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). PubMed Central is also integrated with other databases and repositories, such as GenBank and Protein Data Bank (PDB), to provide a comprehensive view of the biomedical sciences from National Science Foundation (NSF) and European Research Council (ERC).

Impact and Usage

PubMed Central has had a significant impact on the biomedical sciences, providing free access to the full text of biomedical literature and promoting the dissemination of knowledge and innovation from institutions such as Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). The repository is widely used by researchers, scientists, and healthcare professionals from Johns Hopkins University and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), as well as students and educators from University of Oxford and University of Cambridge, and policymakers and journalists from The New York Times and BBC News. PubMed Central has also been recognized as a model for open access publishing and has inspired the development of other repositories and initiatives, such as arXiv and bioRxiv, from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Wellcome Trust. Category:Biomedical sciences