Finding newly published or epub ahead of print articles in Medline via Ovid

Slight changes have recently been made to Medline via Ovid. The default search now includes “As supplied by Publisher” records.

“As supplied by Publisher” records include “Epub – Ahead of Print” and other newly published articles. Publishers submit these to the U.S. National Library of Medicine before a journal issue’s publication, to be findable more quickly in the Medline database.

“As Supplied by Publisher” records, like “In Process” records, have not yet been indexed. This means that they have not yet been assigned Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). As of July 2016, 11% of records in Medline have not been assigned MeSH. Using only MeSH in your search will not retrieve these records. For a more comprehensive search, you must build up your strategy by searching for words in the titles and abstracts.

For example, to search for all articles on Multiple Sclerosis, you would have to use the MeSH for Multiple Sclerosis, as well as a search for “Multiple Sclerosis” in the title and abstract fields. See below:

1. Multiple sclerosis/ (44122)
   – Searched using MeSH term

2. Multiple sclerosis.tw (58327)
   – .tw is a command that searches for the words in both the Title and Abstract fields.

3. 1 or 2 (65456)

Consult our guide for more information on the differences between Medline via Ovid and PubMed. If you want to brush up on your searching skills, you can attend one of our workshops on Medline via Ovid or PubMed or contact your hospital librarian.

Published August 25, 2016.