Biomedical Literature Search
Search PubMed and bioRxiv for biomedical research papers with titles and abstracts.
When to Use
- Find research papers on a specific biomedical topic
- Retrieve recent preprints from bioRxiv
- Get paper titles, abstracts, authors, and links
- Literature review for drug discovery or biomedical research
Workflow
PubMed Search (Keyword-based)
import requests
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
# Step 1: Search for PMIDs
search_url = "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi"
params = {"db": "pubmed", "term": "PD-1 inhibitor cancer", "retmax": 10, "retmode": "json"}
response = requests.get(search_url, params=params)
pmids = response.json()["esearchresult"]["idlist"]
# Step 2: Fetch paper details
fetch_url = "https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/efetch.fcgi"
response = requests.get(fetch_url, params={"db": "pubmed", "id": ",".join(pmids), "rettype": "abstract", "retmode": "xml"})
bioRxiv Fetch (Date-range based)
import requests
# Fetch papers by date range
url = "https://api.biorxiv.org/details/biorxiv/2026-02-01/2026-03-01"
response = requests.get(url)
papers = response.json()["collection"]
for paper in papers[:5]:
print(f"Title: {paper['title']}")
print(f"Abstract: {paper['abstract'][:200]}...")
Expected Outputs
PubMed Results
Returns list of papers with:
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| title | Paper title |
| authors | Author list |
| abstract | Full abstract |
| doi | DOI identifier |
| pmid | PubMed ID |
| date | Publication date |
| link | PubMed URL |
bioRxiv Results
Returns list of papers with:
| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| title | Paper title |
| authors | Author list |
| abstract | Full abstract |
| doi | DOI identifier |
| date | Publication date |
| category | Subject category |
| link | bioRxiv URL |
Category Filters for bioRxiv
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
cancer_biology |
Cancer research |
immunology |
Immune system studies |
cell_biology |
Cellular processes |
bioinformatics |
Computational biology |
neuroscience |
Nervous system research |
microbiology |
Microbial studies |
genomics |
Genome analysis |
Error Handling
| Error | Solution |
|---|---|
| No PubMed results | Broaden search terms, check spelling |
| bioRxiv timeout | Reduce date range, retry |
| Empty abstract | Paper may not have abstract available |
| Rate limiting | Add delay between requests (NCBI: 3 req/sec) |
API References
- PubMed E-utilities: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK25500/
- bioRxiv API: https://api.biorxiv.org/
Notes
- PubMed: Keyword search via NCBI E-utilities API
- bioRxiv: Date-range or category-based fetch via bioRxiv API
- bioRxiv does not support direct keyword search
- For comprehensive search, use both sources together
See examples/basic_example.py for complete runnable examples.
