OVID MEDLINE	PubMed
Access	Restricted to eligible users; password access or login remotely to get access	Free to everyone; easy remote access
Coverage	1950-Present; you  can choose from time periods.  In-process materials can be searched in a separate file.  OVID reprocesses the Medline file from PubMed so it takes longer from 3-32 week time lag from journal publication to Ovid MEDLINE access.	1950-Present; all in one file.  In-Process citations included in the search so you can find very recent articles.  There is a 1-8 week time lag from journal publication to PubMed access.
Boolean searching	Supported	Supported, but boolean expressions must be capitalized
Truncation	Supports $, * as wildcards	* supported
Other Databases	Can search OVID Journals and books and other OVID databases at the same time or you can run your search again in the different databases.	Integrated with databases from NCBI including GenBank, TOXNET and it provides links to MEDLINE plus for consumer health information
Queries	You can search keyword, title, author or map it to a subject heading (MeSH). Appropriate subject headings are presented for choice.  The Search History shows you how the query was searched and the number of results.	The search is automatically formulated and it retrieves articles with matching MeSH headings, titles or abstracts. The user can also use the "MeSH database" to be guided through a selection of headings similar to the OVID search. Click on the "Search Details" to see how the query was translated. If you are not using the MeSH headings searches are best built one concept at a time and the automatic term mapping is not as effective as Ovid's mapping.  Phrase search terms are searched as individual words in all fields which often provides many false hits.
Explosion of terms to include broader and narrower terms	The user can decide if they want to explode MeSH headings.  Explosion is automatic but you can uncheck the box to eliminate the explosion feature.	MeSH headings are automatically exploded.  You must use the MeSH Database to choose MeSH terms without exploding
Combining sets	The Search History box lists the sets which can be combined with AND, OR or NOT.  You do not need to capitalize the operators	Search sets are found under the "Advanced Search" and can be combined with AND, OR or NOT. You must use the number sign for each set number and capitalize the operator.
Finding related articles	"Find Similar" is a link available with each citation.	"Related Articles" is a link available in each citation.
Limits	Common limits can be applied from the main search screen	Limits are available through the Advanced Search but remain active for subsequent searches unless they are deselected.