As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, PubMed recently introduced several updates designed to improve usability and consistency across the platform. These changes are informed by user feedback and aim to facilitate a more efficient and accessible experience for all PubMed users. Key changes include improved rendering of reference lists, the addition of date stamps in search history downloads, streamlined sharing options, and other usability updates.

Formatting in reference lists

Reference lists displayed on PubMed abstract pages now render formatting such as bold, italics, superscripts, and subscripts when provided by the publisher. This change ensures meaningful formatting such as superscript and subscript characters are preserved, and references retain the citation style provided to PubMed.

Date stamps in search history download

PubMed search history downloads from the Advanced Search page now include date stamps for each search. This feature can be used to help facilitate record keeping and reporting, for example when conducting systematic reviews. Please note that the date format may vary depending on the local settings configured in the software program you use to open CSV files.

Usability improvement to "See all cited by articles" and "See all similar articles"

Abstract pages include links to citations for similar articles and cited by articles, when available. You can now right click on the "See all cited by articles" and "See all similar articles" links to open these results in a new tab or window, and clicking these links now clear any applied filters so that the entire cited by or similar article set will be displayed.

Searches related to [your query]

The "Searches related to [your query]" feature located below the PubMed search results has been removed. These related searches continue to be auto-suggested as you enter terms in the PubMed search bar, consolidating this feature to where it is most used.

Streamlined share functionality

Platform-specific social media share buttons have been removed in favor of the universal permalink option that can be shared on any platform of your choice. This change helps to save space on the search results page for the most compact search results view and aligns PubMed's abstract page with the updated PubMed Central (PMC) website, providing a consistent user experience.

To get a citation permalink to share:

• From the search results, right-click an article title and choose the copy link option; exact wording and functionality may change depending on your operating system and browser.
• From an abstract page, click the Permalink button on the right sidebar and click "Copy".
• From a mobile device, use your device's native share functionality to copy a link or share to the social media app of your choice.

Please see the following Technical Bulletin articles for other recent updates:

• PubMed Update: FTP Improvements Available for Testing.
• PubMed Update: Changes to Email Feature.