How to Check Whether a Journal Is Indexed in PubMed

You can check whether a journal is indexed in PubMed by searching for it in the NLM Catalog and by searching PubMed for articles from the journal. Do not rely on a journal's own website claims, which may be wrong or misleading.

Steps

1. Search the NLM Catalog (the National Library of Medicine's catalogue of journals) by title or ISSN.
2. Read the record: it states whether the journal is currently indexed for MEDLINE, whether its content is in PubMed Central or only deposited in PMC, and the date range included.
3. Search PubMed with the journal's name in the journal field (for example "Journal Name"[Journal]) and check whether recent articles appear.
4. Note the category: being in PubMed, in MEDLINE (indexed with MeSH) and in PMC are different things (see PubMed vs PubMed Central vs MEDLINE).
5. Cross-check with the journal's ISSN to avoid confusing similarly named titles.

What to be careful about

• Journals may say they are "indexed in PubMed" when only some articles appear through PMC deposit, or they may list a database that is not recognised.
• Indexing status can change; a journal may be added or discontinued.
• Having an ISSN is not evidence of quality.

Illustrative example

Invented for teaching. A journal website states "indexed in MEDLINE". The student looks up the ISSN in the NLM Catalog and finds the title is listed as "currently indexed for MEDLINE", and PubMed shows articles from the last month. She records the date she checked. For another journal, no NLM Catalog record exists, so she treats the claim as unverified.

Common pitfalls

• Trusting logos on a journal's home page.
• Checking once and never again before submission.

Key takeaways

• Verify indexing yourself using the NLM Catalog and PubMed.
• Record the date and the category.

This page is general educational information about research methods. It is not medical, legal or regulatory advice; follow your institution's ethics board and your target journal's instructions.