United States National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

FAQ
DOCLINE -- Identifying Free Full Text Articles in PubMed

Question: How do I know if the full text of an article cited in PubMed is available free?
Answer:

In PubMed search results, a colored icon is displayed next to a citation if free full text is available (and the publisher has provided this information to NLM):

freereg

Free full text article available in PubMed Central PubMed Central (PMC)

freepub

Free full text article available at the producer's site


Clicking on the icon displays the abstract. Clicking on the link or links that display immediately above the Related Links display the full text article. See example citation below. Clicking on either the producer site link ("Read the full article on Thrombosis Journal") or the PMC link ("Free full text article in PubMed Central") will display the free full text article. The library's LinkOut link displays at the bottom of the citation ("Welch FULL-TEXT").

freeabstractplus

Related Questions:
How do I know if a free full text article is available when I am in DOCLINE?
Where do I report problems with links for free full text articles?
Why aren't all free full text articles identified in PubMed?
Why don't I see my LinkOut icons using PubMed via DOCLINE?

Return to the list of DOCLINE FAQs | Return to the list of NLM FAQs
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/doc_feat_free_in_pubmed.html

Last reviewed: 17 September 2008
Last updated: 17 September 2008
First published: 18 March 2004
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanence Not Guaranteed