An evaluation of PubMed Central as a resource of free full-text articles for systematic reviews in biomedical research and education

PMC is rarely utilized for systematic reviews. Although the number of articles retrieved from PMC is higher than PubMed, further studies should evaluate the comparative relevance of their yield, as PMC may return fewer specific articles on the studied research topic due to its inclusion of full-text articles. Key messages What is already known on this topic PubMed Central (PMC) is a free resource of full-text articles in biomedical fields. What this study adds Our study shows that PMC is rarely used as a resource for full-text articles for systematic reviews in biomedical research and education. In all three random samples of clinical medicine subjects that we studied, the yield of articles was higher in PMC than in PubMed. How this study might affect research, practice, or policy Future studies should focus on the relevance (specificity) of the yield of articles from PMC searches in specific research topics in systematic reviews.