United States National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

PubMed Subset Strategies

The following PubMed subject subsets can be used for searching. These are available on the Limits screen on the Subset pull-down menu, unless otherwise noted. See PubMed's Help for searching information.

The following subset strategies are available:

AIDS: This strategy was created to facilitate searching for subjects in the area of AIDS. Based on search strategies used for creating NLM's AIDSLINE database. This subset can also be used in a search as aids [sb].
Example: tuberculosis AND aids [sb]
Bioethics: This strategy was created by NLM and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University to facilitate searching for citations to articles in the area of bioethics. This subset can also be used in a search as bioethics [sb].
Example: euthanasia AND bioethics [sb]
Cancer: This strategy uses terms from the Neoplasms and related branches of MeSH, cancer-related text words, and MEDLINE journal titles. It was created jointly by NLM and the National Cancer Institute to facilitate searching for subjects in all areas of cancer, ranging from clinical care to basic research. This subset can also be used in a search as cancer [sb].
Example: survivors AND cancer [sb]
Complementary Medicine: This strategy was created using terms from the Alternative Medicine branch of MeSH, as well as additional terms and names of MEDLINE journals provided by The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It is provided to facilitate searching for subjects in the area of complementary and alternative medicine. This subset can also be used in a search as cam [sb].
Example: osteoarthritis AND cam [sb]
History of Medicine: This strategy was created by NLM's History of Medicine Division to facilitate searching for subjects in the history of medicine. This subset can also be used in a search as history [sb].
Example: anthrax AND history [sb]
Space Life Sciences: This strategy was developed by NLM and the NASA SPACELINE Office and is intended to retrieve citations of interest to those working in the field of space life sciences research. This subset can also be used in a search as space [sb].
Example: exercise AND space [sb]
Systematic Reviews: This strategy is intended to retrieve citations identified as systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, guidelines, and citations to articles from journals specializing in review studies of value to clinicians. This subset can be used in a search as systematic [sb].
Example: exercise hypertension AND systematic [sb]

This subset is available on the Limits screen under "Subsets." It is also available on the Clinical Queries screen. For additional sources of strategies for systematic reviews, please see the list of related sources .
Toxicology: This strategy was created by NLM's Specialized Information Services to facilitate searching for subjects in the area of toxicology. This subset can also be used in a search as tox [sb].
Example: lead AND tox [sb]
Veterinary Medicine/Animal Health: This strategy was created to facilitate searching for veterinary medicine and animal health literature. This subset can be used in a search as veterinary [sb].
Example: hyperparathyroidism AND veterinary [sb]

This strategy is available on the Veterinary Information Resources page, not on the PubMed Limits page.

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Last reviewed: 25 February 2008
Last updated: 25 February 2008
First published: 01 January 2001
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanent: Dynamic Content