Information for Other Resource Providers
Althought LinkOut was built for PubMed to provide links to full text articles on providers' site, the LinkOut service also allows scientific databases, dataset repositories, and other resources outside of NCBI to be linked to from many different NCBI databases. Resources include molecular biology databases, medical information databases, and chemical information databases, to name a few. See examples of the display of external database links in NCBI's Gene, PubMed, and Taxonomy databases.
To include your resource's links in NCBI database records, first carefully review the Information for Other Resource Providers in the LinkOut Help manual and then follow the instructions in the section titled, Apply for Inclusion in LinkOut.
Helpful Links
- Complete LinkOut Documentation for Scientific Databases, Dataset Repositories, and Other External Resources
- List of Scientific, Datasets, Other Providers Participating in LinkOut
Frequently Asked Questions
Will our online database or repository be appropriate for LinkOut?
Although participation in LinkOut is open to various types of online resource providers, resources from professional societies, government agencies, educational institutions, or individuals and organizations that have received grants from major funding organizations are preferred. All resources considered for inclusion in LinkOut must meet the LinkOut Evaluation Criteria.
What level of linking must we provide?
Links to database records must lead directly to the record; not to an intermediate search screen.
Can we restrict access to our database content?
Yes, all access restrictions assigned by the resource provider or the institution sponsoring the service are retained.
What responsibilities do we have as a LinkOut provider?
See the information in Provider Responsibilities.
Which NCBI databases are available for us to add our links to?
See the information in the section titled Databases Available for Linking of the LinkOut Help manual.
How can we obtain a NCBI API key to extract data from NCBI databases?
See the information in Creating an API Key.
Can our resources be linked to all records in a NCBI database?
No. LinkOut cannot create links to your resource in every record of a NCBI database. Additionally, resource links to NCBI database records need to be directly related to the research subject in a NCBI database record.