Medical Literature
PubMed is the major source for medical articles since 1947. Harvard's Countway Library of Medicine has created this PubMed tutorial; the National Library of Medicine has lots of helpful information as well. For pre-1947 articles see the Index Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon General's Office.
Web of Science Citation Indexes (1900- ) articles in all areas of science. Includes medical articles not in PubMed. You can use the Cited Reference search in the Web of Science find primary source articles that cite a specified article, thus getting an idea of its receptrion. More information.
JSTOR offers full-text of complete runs (up to about 5 years ago) of over 400 journals. JSTOR allows simultaneous or individual searching, full-text searching optional, numerous journals in a variety of fields of science and medicine. JSTOR searches the "Notes and News" sections of journals (Science is especially rich in this material). In Advanced Search choose Item Type: Miscellaneous to limit largely to "Notes and News".
Medical Heritage Library. Information about the Medical Heritage Library