UNL research now available in national database, with free access

PubMed is the nation's largest database of medical and life science research citations, with more than 28 million records linked to scientific publications. It is operated by the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Full-text, however, is frequently not available to public users without subscriptions, so those links often end in frustration for researchers or patients seeking information.

Thanks to a new program initiated in 2017, more than 1000 articles with free public access in UNL's Digital Commons are now linked from PubMed's database, so UNL research can reach a public audience in a free version, linked onscreen right next to the pay version from the publisher.

To qualify, UNL had to find 1000 articles in DigitalCommons that were listed in PubMed but not included in NIH's own free-text archive PubMed Central. University Libraries Professor Sue Gardner did most of the work, combing through our 95,000 articles to find 1000 that met the criteria.

Only a few institutions were able to produce that many, so we are pleased with and proud of the output of UNL researchers and our ability to capture and make it free to all. This is one of the many ways the University Libraries is highlighting and supporting the research done on this campus.

The UNL DigitalCommons brings together the university's research under one umbrella, with an aim to preserve and provide access to that research. Read more about it here.