FLink: A New Way to Save PubMed Search Results

Posted by Patricia Devine on November 10th, 2010 Posted in: News from NLM, Technology, Training & Education

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Those who search PubMed regularly have often wished for a way to import search results into a a program such as Excel. It’s here! A new tool called FLink (Frequency-weighted Links) is now accessible from the NIH National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/flink/docs/flink_about.html. FLink allows PubMed search results to be saved as a CSV, or comma-separated value, file which can be imported into a program like Excel.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Enter the desired query in PubMed.
2. Open FLink (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/flink/flink.cgi).
3. Open the “Please choose a database to start” menu and select “PubMed.”
4. Select “Input from Entrez History” from the dialog box that allows you to select your desired input method.
5. a) use the pull-down menu on that tab to view a list of your recent PubMed searches;
   b) select the PubMed query for which you’d like to download a CSV formatted search results file;
   c) press “Submit”
6. FLink will now display your search results in a “PubMed” folder tab.
7. Select the “Download CSV” option and choose to “open” or “save” the file, as desired. (The browser window will also display the URL at which your results can be retrieved.)
8. The columns in a CSV file will depend on the database you accessed through FLink. For PubMed, thecolumns will include:
   1. UID (PMID)
   2. Authors
   3. PubDate(Year)
   4. PubDate(Month
   5. Title of article Summary (which includes the following information in a single cell: Authors, title, journal name, year, month (if applicable), volume, issue, pages)