PubMed

PubMed is a free online database of references on life sciences.^[1] It was established in January 1996.^[2] The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) maintains the database.^[1]

Each record in the PubMed database is assigned a special number to identify it.^[1] This is the PMID, an acronym for "PubMed IDentifier" number.^[3] PMIDs do not change over time and they are never reused.^[4] Any PMID is only a number. The PMID tells the reader nothing about the type or quality of the content of any publication.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), PubMed Help; retrieved 2012-1-27.
2. ↑ "PubMed Celebrates its 10th Anniversary". Technical Bulletin. United States National Library of Medicine. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2011-03-22.
3. ↑ Mount Sinai School of Medicine, "What is a PubMed ID (PMID)?; retrieved 2012-1-27.
4. ↑ NCBI, PubMed Help, FAQS → PMID [PMID]; retrieved 2012-1-27.