PubMed Tip of the Month…Search or Filter by Funder

Funding information is recorded in two fields in a PubMed record: Grant Number and Publication Type. Limiting a search to these fields can help you find articles that were supported by a specific grant, funder or type of funder (e.g. non-U.S. government).

  • Grant Number: The Grant Number field records grant or contract numbers as published in the article, or derived from PubMed Central as a result of the NIH Public Access Policy. To find articles funded by a particular organization, search the Grant Number field for the organization’s name, acronym or 2-letter code (click on link above for complete list funding agency names, acronyms and codes). For example, to find studies supported by the National Institute on Aging, search PubMed for: AA[gr].
  • Publication Type: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), the standardized terms used to describe articles for MEDLINE, include Publication Types to identify financial support when that support is mentioned in the article. A list of publication types, including those for Research Support, can be viewed from the link above. To filter a search by one of the funding Publication Types: in the left-hand column of a results page, click ‘Customize’ under Article types. Scroll down and check the box next to the types of Research Support you would like to view. Click ‘Show’. The types of research support that you selected should now be visible under Article types. Click the research support type to filter your results.