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@bonzanini
Last active January 25, 2023 12:34
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Searching PubMed with Biopython
# This code uses Biopython to retrieve lists of articles from pubmed
# you need to install Biopython first.
# If you use Anaconda:
# conda install biopython
# If you use pip/venv:
# pip install biopython
# Full discussion:
# https://marcobonzanini.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/searching-pubmed-with-python/
from Bio import Entrez
def search(query):
Entrez.email = 'your.email@example.com'
handle = Entrez.esearch(db='pubmed',
sort='relevance',
retmax='20',
retmode='xml',
term=query)
results = Entrez.read(handle)
return results
def fetch_details(id_list):
ids = ','.join(id_list)
Entrez.email = 'your.email@example.com'
handle = Entrez.efetch(db='pubmed',
retmode='xml',
id=ids)
results = Entrez.read(handle)
return results
if __name__ == '__main__':
results = search('fever')
id_list = results['IdList']
papers = fetch_details(id_list)
for i, paper in enumerate(papers['PubmedArticle']):
print("{}) {}".format(i+1, paper['MedlineCitation']['Article']['ArticleTitle']))
@sidewinder02139
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Quick question: is there a extra ")" (or missing "(" in line 39?
print("%d) %s" % (i+1, paper['MedlineCitation']['Article']['ArticleTitle']))
#edited for formatting

@sidewinder02139 the syntax is correct: note the first ")" on that line is part of the output string

DOH! LOL
Have a brilliant weekend and stay healthy!
btw, I love the code. Well done!

@jajkelle
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jajkelle commented Jan 21, 2021

ThitherShore is correct. Your code wont work until you enumerate papers['PubmedArticle']
Thank you for the example, but please change this soon so as not to confuse others.
I spent a while trying to figure out what was wrong.

While were at it the last line doesn't work either for the same reason, should be:
import json
print(json.dumps(papers['PubmedArticle'][0], indent=2, separators=(',', ':')))

@bonzanini
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bonzanini commented Jan 25, 2021

ThitherShore is correct. Your code wont work until you enumerate papers['PubmedArticle']
Thank you for the example, but please change this soon so as not to confuse others.
I spent a while trying to figure out what was wrong.

While were at it the last line doesn't work either for the same reason, should be:
import json
print(json.dumps(papers['PubmedArticle'][0], indent=2, separators=(',', ':')))

@jajkelle Updated (better late than never), thank you all for pointing it out

@echorule
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echorule commented Dec 6, 2022

This is awesome thanks and works pretty well. I'm stuck on trying to get the details of the authors in a succinct way, can anybody help with how to do that? paper['MedlineCitation']['Article']['AuthorList'] isnt right....
Thanks in advance!

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