OLDMEDLINE

OLDMEDLINE is the National Library of Medicine's online data of approximately 1,760,000 citations to articles from international biomedical journals covering the fields of medicine, preclinical sciences and allied health sciences from 1950 through 1965. It can be searched via PubMed® or the NLM Gateway.

History: In 1964, NLM began using the computerized MEDLARS® (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System) system as a mechanism for producing Index Medicus® (IM). In 1971, MEDLARS went online with the introduction of MEDLINE®, an interactive searchable database of data from the 1966 Index Medicus forward. The 1964 and 1965 issues of Index Medicus, while available in electronic form, were not included in MEDLINE because of format differences. In the mid-1990s, NLM was assisted in its effort to provide online access to these older citations by the Deutsches Institut fur Medizinische Dokumentation und Information (DIMDI), the International MEDLARS Center in Germany. DIMDI had tapes of the original data from the 1964 and 1965 Cumulative Index Medicus (CIM), which they had converted and then supplied to NLM to create OLDMEDLINE in 1996. The citations from the 1960 - 1963 CIM and the 1950 - 1959 Current List of Medical Literature (CLML) were converted into machine-readable form and added to OLDMEDLINE during the past six years.

OLDMEDLINE Data:

Date Added	Citations Added	Printed Index
December 1996	153,127	1965 CIM
December 1996	153,196	1964 CIM
November 1998	233,654	1962 - 1963 CIM
November 1998	227,897	1960 - 1961 CIM
July 2000	106,301	1959 CLML
July 2000	113,273	1958 CLML
May 2002	103,427	1957 CLML
May 2003	105,757	1956 CLML
	109,778	1955 CLML
	107,927	1954 CLML
	103,502	1953 CLML
February 2004	89,557	1952 CLML
February 2004	97,332	1951 CLML
September 2004	55,580	53,533 citations from 1950 CLML 2,317 citations from 1951 - 1965*)

*In order to load OLDMEDLINE data into PubMed, each citation must be linked to a parent serial record in LocatorPlus. Determining the proper link for some of these older citations takes research time which can result in the citations being made available later than the online debut date for the majority of a year's index.

Updates: NLM® expects to continue converting citations from its older printed medical indexes to machine-readable form and to add these citations to PubMed's OLDMEDLINE subset as time and resources permit.

Data Quality: OLDMEDLINE records have been created using standards that are different from the data entry standards for MEDLINE records. There are also variations among OLDMEDLINE citations in the data elements (fields) present in the citation as well as in their format, depending on the original source from which the citations were obtained.

OLDMEDLINE citations lack the individual and accumulated changes and improvements that have been made to data in other NLM files during annual file maintenance. Certain fields may contain outdated or erroneous data and the data are not cosmetically consistent from year to year (e.g., the use of upper/lower case). The citations basically reflect the contents of the original printed indexes that were produced under policy and procedures of the time. The exceptions to this are that NLM has identified and updated the Journal Title Abbreviation and added the current ISSN. Each OLDMEDLINE citation is linked to a parent serial record in NLM's online catalog LocatorPlus.

Searching: When searching OLDMEDLINE citations, keep in mind the absence of abstracts, and the fact that fewer subject headings were assigned per article (approximately 3 - 5 per citation). Both of these conditions affect subject retrieval. There are no MeSH® Heading check tags (e.g., human, adult). The original subject headings assigned to the citations have not been updated, and may not match current MeSH vocabulary. There are no subheadings in citations published in the 1963 through 1965 CIM. Citations from the 1960 through 1962 CIM and citations from the 1952 through 1959 CLML do contain subject heading/subheading combinations that were in effect at the time. Citations from the 1950 and 1951 CLML do not have subheadings. All of the terms assigned to OLDMEDLINE citations are identified as the major topic of the article.

To distinguish these older subject headings from current MeSH, all subject headings have been placed in the PubMed Other Term [OT] field. There are no data in the MeSH Heading (MH) field. As a result, the subject headings in OLDMEDLINE citations do not relate to current hierarchical MeSH Tree numbers, and the MeSH search capabilities (i.e., "explosions") that collect indented (more specific) terms are not functional for these data.

Searches in PubMed can be limited to OLDMEDLINE citations either by selection of the 'OLDMEDLINE for Pre 1966' subset choice from the Subsets menu in Limits, or by ANDing a search with oldmedline [sb].

Also, see the article OLDMEDLINE Citations Join PubMed. NLM Tech Bull. 2003 Sep-Oct; (334):e2.

Availability: OLDMEDLINE is a subset of PubMed available free of charge at http://pubmed.gov.

Document Delivery: All articles cited in PubMed, including those in the OLDMEDLINE subset, can be ordered using Loansome Doc®.

Sample Record: PubMed Summary display format for an OLDMEDLINE citation

FITZPATRICK MJ, RUBIN H, POSER CM.
The treatment of cryptococcal meningitis with amphotericin B, a new fungicidal agent.
Ann Intern Med. 1958 Aug;49(2):249-59. No abstract available.
PMID: 13571816 [PubMed - OLDMEDLINE for Pre1966]

Sample Record: PubMed MEDLINE display format for an OLDMEDLINE citation

FITZPATRICK MJ et al. The treatment of cryptococcal...[PMID:13571816]

PMID - 13571816
OWN - NLM
STAT - completed
DA - 19591201
DCOM - 20000701
IS - 0003-4819
VI - 49
IP - 2
DP - 1958 Aug
TI - The treatment of cryptococcal meningitis with amphotericin B, a new fungicidal agent.
PG - 249-59
FAU - FITZPATRICK, M J
AU - FITZPATRICK MJ
FAU - RUBIN, H
AU - RUBIN H
FAU - POSER, C M
AU - POSER CM
LA - eng
PT - Journal Article
PL - Not Available
TA - Ann Intern Med
JID - 0372351
SB - OM
OID - CLML: 5935:1139:162:231:360
OTO - NLM
OT - *CRYPTOCOCCOSIS/therapy
OT - *FUNGICIDES/therapeutic use
OT - *MENINGITIS/therapy
EDAT - 1958/08/01
MHDA - 1958/08/01 00:01
PST - ppublish
SO - Ann Intern Med 1958 Aug;49(2):249-59.

Further Information

For information about OLDMEDLINE or other NLM services, contact:

Customer Service
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Bethesda, MD 20894
Telephone: 1-888-FINDNLM (1-888-346-3656) or (301) 594-5983
e-mail: custserv@nlm.nih.gov

Last updated: 06 October 2004
First published: 05 May 2003
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanence Not Guaranteed