What is the difference between PubMed and MEDLINE?
Should I search PubMed, MEDLINE, or both for my systematic review?
Answer
PubMed is an online platform where you can access MEDLINE.
MEDLINE is a life sciences and biomedical database of citations provided and maintained by the U. S. National Library of Medicine. It is the primary component of PubMed, which is the name you are likely more familiar with! MEDLINE is available to search through a variety of interfaces and websites in addition to PubMed. So, when you search PubMed, you are also searching MEDLINE, but you can also search MEDLINE without using the PubMed website. This is because MEDLINE is also available through commercial providers and sites such as EBSCOhost or OVID.
Unlike the commercially-produced versions of MEDLINE, PubMed is freely available, so you can use it regardless of your affiliation with a university or hospital. In systematic reviews, authors may say that they searched MEDLINE via PubMed or MEDLINE via OVID, for example. Searching MEDLINE via PubMed means that they searched the MEDLINE database using PubMed website, whereas searching MEDLINE via OVID means that they searched the MEDLINE database using OVID’s website.
Northeastern faculty, staff, and students can search MEDLINE via PubMed, or via EBSCOhost. For a systematic review or similar project, we recommend searching MEDLINE via PubMed as your results are more easily reproduced by others who may not have the same access to commercial sites like EBSCOhost.
For more information, see the links below, and for support on systematic reviews, advanced reviews, or evidence syntheses, please visit our Systematic Reviews and Evidence Syntheses Research Subject Guide.