PubMed Literature Search

How to Search PubMed and Review Literature 

Overview

MACg is especially useful when you want faster, cleaner, and more structured PubMed searching without writing every query manually. It uses natural language search and is very precise to your request. 

It is a powerful question-and-answer database for many use cases: 

•   Self-learning

•   Medical information requests

•   Content development

•   Verifying citations

•   Clinical diagnosis support

Watch the MACg Literature Search Tutorial

What does MACg search?

PubMed and PubMed Central 

•   Abstracts and titles

•   Full text for writing when available in PubMed Central (Has PMCID)

Define the drug, disease, population, comparison, or study type you want to find.

You can use natural language.

With MACg, you do not need perfect PubMed syntax. You can type a plain request such as find randomized studies of rivaroxaban vs warfarin in atrial fibrillation.

MACg can translate your intent into a stronger PubMed-style query. 

It can structure concepts using terms such as AND, OR, phrase searching, and field-focused logic when needed.

Quotation marks can improve precision.

Phrases like "atrial fibrillation" may narrow results to the exact phrase, while unquoted terms are often broader.

Be specific when needed.

Add details such as:
 

•   population,

•   subgroup,

•   trial name,

•   date range,

•   study design,

•   comparator.

Ask for the type of evidence you want.

For example:

•   randomized trials,

•   subgroup analyses,

•   review articles,

•   meta-analyses,

•   safety studies,

•   efficacy studies.

MACg can refine weak searches.

If the first PubMed search is too broad or irrelevant, MACg can narrow or expand the query.

It can organize results for you.

MACg can return:
 

•   article lists,

•   summaries,

•   subgroup-specific publications,

•   tables,

•   slide-ready overviews.

Each reference is hyperlinked to the original PubMed record, and the full citation is provided. If you have access, download the article, then upload it to

 your MACg reference collections or to your chat session to use for content creation.

Use it for iterative searching.

A good workflow is:

1. Run a broad search,
2. Identify the key paper,
3. Refine to subgroup or review searches,
4. Summarize the evidence

How to use the PubMed search Feature
 

1. Open a chat session by selecting Ask MACg from the dashboard or use any open chat session.
2. Click the PubMed toggle. This toggle has to be ON for MACg to use PubMed.
3. Enter your search instructions
4. Click the blue execute button
    

Search Examples

1.     Find articles about "Xarelto" OR rivaroxaban AND "atrial fibrillation”

2.     Find randomized studies that compare Rivaroxaban versus warfarin in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation

3.     Find articles about renal impairment and Rivaroxaban

4.     What is the safety and efficacy of using rivaroxaban in patients with renal failure?

a.     Create a table comparing rivaroxaban vs apixaban vs warfarin in CKD

b.     Create a visualization of the information in the summary table

Additional Actions
 

1. Create a summary table of the search results
2. Draft an article using the search results
3. Create key takaways from the search results