Category: PubMed

There will be no change to the PubMed DTD for 2027. There are two upcoming changes to PubMed data that will take effect when the 2027 PubMed baseline is published:

1. A new allowed value “NotIndexed” will be added for the IndexingMethod attribute of the element.
2. PubMed FTP data will be generated using the new process announced in June 2025.

New Allowed IndexingMethod Value

Introduced with the 2017 DTD, IndexingMethod specifies the method used to assign Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) to the citation. The current allowed values include:

• Curated – MeSH indexing is provided algorithmically and a human reviewed (and possibly modified) the algorithm results
• Automated – MeSH indexing is provided algorithmically
• Manual – MeSH indexing is provided by humans

A fourth allowed value, “NotIndexed” will identify citations that are in scope for MEDLINE but do not have abstract text in PubMed and therefore are not indexed with MeSH terms. During Year-End Processing in December 2026, NLM will move these citations from In Process status to MEDLINE status and assign the NotIndexed value. If abstract text is later provided to PubMed, the citation will be indexed, and the status will be updated to the appropriate IndexingMethod allowed value.

PubMed data consumers parsing the IndexingMethod attribute should prepare for this new value.

Updated FTP Data

Starting with the annual baseline release in December 2026, the content of PubMed data distributed via FTP will be generated using the same technology as the PubMed website and E-utilities API; this update means the FTP data will match the PubMed website and API.

Test FTP data generated with the new process is available to help prepare for this transition. Users are encouraged to view the test data and check their workflows. Please share any questions or feedback via the NLM Help Desk. Please note, the test files may differ from the current FTP files due to the data differences described in the June 2025 FTP announcement.

• Test baseline files
• Test update files

For more information about accessing PubMed data via FTP, please see: Download PubMed Data.

Contact the NLM Help Desk

Please reach out to us if you have questions about these PubMed updates.

PubMed Update: New & Noteworthy RSS Feed Has a New URL. NLM Tech Bull. 2026 Mar-Apr;(469):e2.

April 16, 2026 [posted]

PubMed’s New & Noteworthy RSS feed provides another way to stay up to date with the latest news published in the NLM Technical Bulletin for PubMed.

This RSS feed URL is changing, as the feed will now be generated directly from the Technical Bulletin, filtered for articles related to PubMed. 

If you are a current subscriber of the PubMed New & Noteworthy RSS feed, no action is necessary: the current URL will be redirected to the new URL for a seamless transition. However, both URLs are provided below in the rare event your RSS feed reader encounters any issues with the redirect:

Old PubMed New & Noteworthy RSS feed URL:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/feed/rss.cgi?ChanKey=PubMedNews 

New PubMed Technical Bulletin RSS feed URL: 
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/rss/auto/PubMedNews.rss 

To become a new subscriber of the PubMed RSS feed, copy the new RSS feed URL above and use this link with your preferred feed reader or other application.

This change does not affect RSS feeds created for PubMed searches. 

More ways to stay up to date with PubMed: 

• Recent articles are highlighted on the PubMed homepage in the “PubMed Updates” section.
• Visit the recently redesigned Technical Bulletin and apply the filter for Popular Products: PubMed.
• Subscribe to receive email notifications of new Technical Bulletin articles, including PubMed articles.

The article type filters in PubMed have been updated to reflect Annual MeSH Processing (AMP) updates to Publication Types, including discontinued publication types from the past several years.

All affected filters appeared in the “See all article type filters” menu; there were no changes to the default article type filters shown on the sidebar.

• Added new publication type to the additional article type filters menu:
  o     Evidence Synthesis
• Renamed publication types in the additional article type filters menu:
  o    Congress → Conference Proceedings
  o    Consensus Development Conference → Consensus Statement
  o    Retraction of Publication → Retraction Notice
  • • The underlying filter search strategy was updated from hasretractionof to hasretractionof OR retraction notice[pt] for more comprehensive retrieval.
• Removed discontinued Publication Types from the additional article type filters menu:
  o    Autobiography
  o    Bibliography
  o    Clinical Conference
  o    Consensus Development Conference, N.I.H
  o    Dictionary
  o    Directory
  o    Government Publication
  o    Interactive Tutorial
  o    Legal Case
  o    Legislation
  o    Newspaper Article
  o    Overall
  o    Periodical Index
  o    Portrait
  o    Scientific Integrity Review
  o    Seminal Article
  o    Technical Report

Searching for Discontinued Publication Types
Although discontinued publication types are no longer applied to new citations, they remain on previously indexed citations and are still searchable in PubMed using the publication type [pt] search field tag. For example: overall[pt].

Users who wish to continue using a discontinued publication type as a sidebar filter may create a Custom Filter in My NCBI. Keep in mind that because these publication types are no longer being added to new citations, using them as filters will limit retrieval to older citations.

“Invalid Filter” Error Message
An “invalid filter” error message will appear if a search includes a renamed or discontinued filter that is saved in browser cookies or included in a bookmarked search URL. To resolve this issue, click the “Reset filters” button at the bottom of the filter sidebar. This action removes all PubMed filter cookies from the browser, clears applied filters, and restores the sidebar to the default filter set.

My NCBI Saved Searches
Update any of your My NCBI saved searches that include a renamed or discontinued article type filter to remove the outdated filter(s). If you would like to continue including these publication types in your alert(s), add the publication type(s) to the query string using the publication type [pt] search field tag. See the My NCBI Help for instructions on modifying a saved search query. 

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has released the 2026 production year PubMed Baseline files. The complete 2026 baseline consists of files pubmed26n0001- pubmed26n1334. In addition to the XML files there are corresponding MD5 checksum files for each XML export file.

The first set of 2026 PubMed update files has been posted. The first 2026 update file is pubmed26n1335. Regular daily updates have resumed.

NOTE: All baseline files must be downloaded and processed PRIOR to loading the first and subsequent update files.

PubMed DTD: There is no change to the PubMed DTD for 2026. pubmed_250101.dtd will remain in place as the current PubMed DTD. More information and documentation are available at Download PubMed Data.

Updated MeSH in MEDLINE Citations

MEDLINE citations in PubMed have been updated with 2026 MeSH.

Publication Type Updates

Several changes were made to Publication Types for MeSH 2026:

• Evidence Synthesis [pt] is new for 2026
• Congress [pt] is now Conference Proceedings [pt]
• Consensus Development Conference [pt] is now Consensus Statement [pt]
• Seminal Article (formerly called Classical Article) has been discontinued
• Clinical Conference has been discontinued

As with previous changes, discontinued Publication Types will continue to exist in MeSH, appear on existing citations, and be searchable in PubMed. However, they will no longer be applied to new citations.

To learn about how annual MeSH updates may affect PubMed searches, see the webinar MeSH Changes and PubMed Searching.

For information about other changes made for MeSH 2026, please visit MeSH

MTIX Indexing Algorithm Retraining

Over the next two to three months, NLM’s automated indexing algorithm will continue to assign some 2025 MeSH terms to new citations while the algorithm is being retrained with 2026 MeSH. When retraining is complete, citations indexed with 2025 MeSH will be updated to reflect 2026 MeSH.

Contact the NLM Help Desk

If you have any questions about 2026 MeSH changes, please contact the NLM Help Desk

You will be able to download 2026 MeSH from links on the NLM Data Distribution page for MeSH Data the week of January 5, 2026. An announcement with further details for the release of 2026 MeSH XML Data will be announced in December 2025.

The update of MEDLINE citations in PubMed with 2026 MeSH is delayed until early 2026. A timeline for this update and the release of the 2026 baseline will be announced in a future Technical Bulletin article.

PubMed Update: Latest Literature on PubMed Homepage Will Be Replaced with PubMed Updates. NLM Tech Bull. 2025 Jan-Feb;(462):e2.

February 28, 2025 [posted]

The Latest Literature section on the PubMed homepage will be removed and replaced with a PubMed updates section on or after March 31, 2025. The new section will include PubMed development updates and other PubMed-related highlights.

Figure 1. Screenshot of PubMed homepage showing the Latest Literature section to be replaced.

To create an RSS feed for a search:

1. In PubMed, search for the journal name tagged with [journal]: journalname[journal]
2. Click “Create RSS” under the search bar.
3. Follow the instructions on screen to create an RSS feed link you can use with your preferred RSS reader app.

To create a saved search:

1. In PubMed, search for the journal name tagged with [journal]: journalname[journal]
2. Click “Create alert” under the search bar. If you are not already signed into My NCBI, you will be prompted to sign in (or create an account).
3. Follow the instructions on screen to set up a saved search, including automatic email updates if desired.

For more information, please see:

• PubMed User Guide: Searching by Journal
• PubMed User Guide: Create an RSS feed for a search
• My NCBI Help: Saving and Managing Searches

PubMed 2025 Baseline Released. NLM Tech Bull. 2025 Jan-Feb;(462):e1.

January 14, 2025 [posted]

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has released the 2025 production year PubMed baseline files. The complete 2025 baseline consists of files pubmed25n0001 through pubmed25n1274.xml. In addition to the XML files there are corresponding MD5 checksum files for each XML export file.

The first set of 2025 PubMed Update files have been posted. The first 2025 update file is pubmed25n1275.xml. Regular daily updates have resumed.

NOTE: All baseline files must be downloaded and processed PRIOR to loading the first and subsequent update files.

DTD Changes: On September 28, 2024, NLM announced the release of the 2025 PubMed DTD.

Additions/Changes since pubmed_240101.dtd:

1. Updated DescriptorName model to allow for optional AutoHM=”Y” attribute.
2. Updated QualifierName model to allow for optional AutoHM=”Y” attribute.
   The AutoHM attribute will be used to distinguish between Descriptors/Qualifiers that have been added by curators or MTIX based on information in the article text (attribute not present), and Descriptors/Qualifiers that have been added automatically after a supplementary concept record (SCR) was indexed (AutoHM=”Y”). Learn more about MeSH record types.
3. Updated IndexingMethod attribute to include allowed value “Manual” for fully human-indexed citations. This attribute has been retroactively applied to manually indexed citations in PubMed.

Please see pubmed_250101.dtd Documentation for annotations and examples for elements and attributes defined in the PubMed DTD. Learn more about downloading PubMed data.

If you have questions regarding this process, please write to the NLM Help Desk.