United States Library of Medicine



DocView



Now that I have the article citation, how do I get the full text article?

This is a question that a lot of people ask, and whose answer may not be readily apparent for somebody casually browsing through NLM's web pages. There are three main ways that you may get full text journal articles over the Internet, and they are detailed here.

  1. If you are a PubMed user, you can obtain full text articles using the document order feature called "Loansome Doc". From PubMed, select Order Documents from the left side menu bar under the Heading "Related Resources." When you get to the registration page, you will find that you need to establish an agreement with a health science library in your area for service. This library will be your ordering library and will provide you with a library identifier (LIBID) to store in your registration page. If you have a health science library you use on a regular basis, check with that library to determine if they provide Loansome Doc service.

    If you need assistance in finding a library that can provide the service for you, contact a Regional Medical Library by calling 1-800-338-RMLS (7657), Monday-Friday, 8:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. Loansome Doc allows users to request document delivery through mail, fax, pickup, or Internet.


  2. Become associated with a library that is willing and able to scan journal articles and send them to you over the Internet.  Most libraries providing this service use the Ariel software from Research Libraries Group.  You can use DocView to receive and/or view the articles that your library sends you.  Libraries typically charge for this service.  Expect to pay a fee ranging up to $15 (U.S.) per article.


  3. Go to a publisher on the Internet that provides electronic journals.  This is usually very expensive, because most publishers provide access to their journals only with an annual subscription costing between $100 to $1800 for a typical biomedical journal title.  PubMed provides a list of biomedical journal titles available on-line at this web address:  Click here to visit the PubMed journal list .  Electronic journals usually come in two types of image formats. The most common is Adobe Acrobat. To view articles in this format, you will need the freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader.  The second most common electronic journal format is HTML, and you just need your web browser to view these types of journals.