ArticleJournal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA2022
Artificial intelligence behind the scenes: PubMed's Best Match algorithm.
Article in Journal of the Medical Library Association : JMLA, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- A dialectical lens for AI and medical humanities: advancing responsible augmented humanism in Digital Public Health.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Faster, better?: Testing artificial intelligence accuracy for neurosurgical literature analysis.Medicine · 2025Article
- Psychometric evaluation of an instrument measuring artificial intelligence utilization in decision-making domains of healthcare organizations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A Perspective on Artificial Intelligence for Molecular Pathologists.The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMD · 2025Review
- AI, agentic models and lab automation for scientific discovery - the beginning of scAInce.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2025Review
- A Systematic Review of the Outcomes of Utilization of Artificial Intelligence Within the Healthcare Systems of the Middle East: A Thematic Analysis of Findings.Health science reports · 2024Review
- Representation of Social Determinants of Health terminology in medical subject headings: impact of added terms.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2024Article
- Development and validation of a search strategy and an automated classifier for retrieving temporomandibular disorders studies.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2024Article
- Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools for Research by Medical Students: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This article focuses on PubMed's Best Match sorting algorithm, presenting a simplified explanation of how it operates and highlighting how artificial intelligence affects search results in ways that are not seen by users. We further discuss user search behaviors and the ethical implications of algorithms, specifically for health care practitioners. PubMed recently began using artificial intelligence to improve the sorting of search results using a Best Match option. In 2020, PubMed deployed this algorithm as the default search method, necessitating serious discussion around the ethics of this and similar algorithms, as users do not always know when an algorithm uses artificial intelligence, what artificial intelligence is, and how it may impact their everyday tasks. These implications resonate strongly in health care, in which the speed and relevancy of search results is crucial but does not negate the importance of a lack of bias in how those search results are selected or presented to the user. As a health care provider will not often venture past the first few results in search of a clinical decision, will Best Match help them find the answers they need more quickly? Or will the algorithm bias their results, leading to the potential suppression of more recent or relevant results?
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.