Anatomy of a Citation

Anatomy of a Citation

Ascension Librarians will be running a series of tutorials on how to get to the fulltext when you have a citation in hand.  With this idea in mind, we thought it would be a great idea to review the parts of a citation.  

In the following PubMed citation, it’s sometimes difficult to tell what’s what. 

      Sheftell F, Steiner TJ, Thomas H.
      Harry Potter and the curse of headache.
      Headache. 2007 Jun;47(6):911-6.
      PMID: 17578544      DOI:  10.1111/j.1526-4610.2007.00665.x

                                 

View this citation in PubMed.

Here’s a quick guide to the anatomy of a PubMed/Medline citation :

    Authors = Sheftell F, Steiner TJ, Thomas H.
    Article Title = Harry Potter and the curse of headache.
    Journal Title Abbreviation = Headache (short for Headache)
    Year/date of publication = 2007 Jun
    Volume(Issue) : Pages = 47(6):911-6.
    Volume = 47
    Issue = 6
    Page Numbers = 911-916
    PubMed Identifier = PMID: 17578544  

    Digital Object Identifier = DOI = ​ 10.1111/j.1526-4610.2007.00665.x

The PubMed ID is the magic key when trying to find full-text.

The PubMed Identifier, or PMID, is like a social security number for each and every article listed in Medline, or PubMed.  No other citation has the same PMID.  This makes the PMID Number a very useful tool in finding the article again.  It’s also a very useful tool for finding the full-text or ordering it from another library. 

The Digital Object Identifier is persistent and strives to always arrive at some version of the document wherever it moves around the web.   We may or not have access to the fulltext.  

Library staff should be able to sort out the specifics.  Although we can often verify incomplete citations, it is helpful to give us as much citation info as possible when requesting articles.

More info at   Search Tips : Citing Sources 

                           Anatomy of a Citation Color Handout (doc)

Questions or comments, contact Your Ascension Wisconsin Librarians : 

Michele Matucheski        Mary Pat Gage         Elissa Kinzelman-Vesely      Kellee Selden