Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

There are several techniques that can help you find methodology articles in PubMed.  MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in PubMed.  

MeSH Headings for Methodology: ‘Methods’ and ‘Research Design’ are MeSH headings.  You can try combining these terms with MeSH headings or keywords for your topic.

MeSH Headings for Particular Technique(s): Depending on your area of research, there may be a specific MeSH term for the category of techniques in which you are interested, e.g. “Cell Culture Techniques”.

PubMed search for the MeSH term 'Cell culture techniques'

Subheadings: Subheadings are used in conjunction with MeSH terms to further describe a particular aspect of that term.  Subheadings follow a MeSH term, e.g. “Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods”[MeSH].  Subheadings can also be free-floated in a search, e.g. “DNA Replication”[MeSH] AND “Methods”[Subheading].  Two useful subheadings for methodology searches are ‘Isolation and Purification’ and ‘Methods’.

Search Particular Journal(s): You may wish to narrow your search to one or more journals devoted to methodology.  To do so, open the Advanced Search Builder by clicking the Advanced link below the PubMed search box.  Select Journal from the dropdown menu and start typing the title of the journal in the adjacent search box.  Choose the journal from the list of titles that appear.  Enter a search term in the next search box to search the journal for articles on a specific topic, e.g. “Science”[Journal] AND CRISPR.

PubMed search for journal Science and MeSH term 'CRISPR-Cas systems'