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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Comparing Bibliometric Analysis Using PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science Databases
Published on: October 24, 2019
Searching the literature using medical subject headings versus text word with PubMed
Angela A Chang1, Karen M Heskett, Terence M Davidson
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Diego, and the VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California, USA.
Objective/Hypothesis:
This study was conducted to investigate the performance of two search strategies in the retrieval of information from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on otolaryngology-head and neck surgery related conditions and diagnoses using PubMed.
Methods:
Two search strategies-one based on the use of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the second based on text word searching-were compared.
Results:
The MeSH search provided a more efficient search than the text word search.
Conclusions:
Head and neck surgeons can most efficiently search the NLM using PubMed as a search engine by initiating the search with MeSH terms. Once a key article is identified, the searcher should use the "Related Articles" feature.
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