1. Literature search

1.2 Les sources documentaires

a. Searching on Internet PubMed

The most comprehensive database in the field of health and the life sciences is PubMed, a cost-free web-based Medline interface accessible on Internet.

Developed by the National Library of Medicine (Bethesda, USA), it comprised, in December 2007, 16.8 million records (going back to 1865). On the average, 500,000 records are added each year. Most come from:

  • Medline database (covering the period from 1966 to the present day),
  • The "OldMedline" database, covering the period 1950-1966.

5,200 periodicals from 80 countries are indexed. Most referenced journals are written in English, even those published in non-English speaking countries, such as Italy and Scandinavia countries.