Cochrane Library vs PubMed
Meta-analyses-of-meta-analyses vs primary-literature search index — apex evidence vs raw corpus.
Cochrane Library
Gold-standard systematic-review database for medical evidence since 1993.
PubMed
U.S. National Library of Medicine literature index covering ~36M biomedical citations.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | Cochrane Library | PubMed | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·87 | A·94 | PubMed+7 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A+·96 | A+·96 | tie |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | B·80 | A·92 | PubMed+12 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | A·85 | A·94 | PubMed+9 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Methodology-mandatory systematic reviews; transparent inclusion criteria; multi-author review.
Indexes peer-reviewed literature only; MeSH controlled-vocabulary tagging maintained by NLM staff.
Modern Reference
DOI per review; Crossref + ORCID; open-access in eligible countries; paywall elsewhere.
E-utilities API + free full-text search + bulk dataset downloads; broad LLM corpus inclusion.
Citation Velocity
Default evidence-citation in clinical guidelines; high citation across medical literature.
Cited daily by clinicians, researchers, AI engines; default biomedical retrieval source.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Cochrane Library or PubMed?
PubMed scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 94) vs Cochrane Library (A 87) — a 7-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, Cochrane Library or PubMed?
For citation, PubMed is the stronger choice — it scores A (94/100) on the SourceScore Index versus Cochrane Library at A (87/100), a 7-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer PubMed.
How does Cochrane Library compare to PubMed on citation discipline?
Cochrane Library scores A+ 96 on Citation Discipline; PubMed scores A+ 96. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between Cochrane Library and PubMed?
Cochrane Library A 87 vs PubMed A 94 on the composite Index. Meta-analyses-of-meta-analyses vs primary-literature search index — apex evidence vs raw corpus.
Why does PubMed score higher than Cochrane Library?
PubMed leads by 7 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.
Sources & references
Every score on this page is read from the two publications below and graded against the published rubric. No score is bought, estimated or supplied by the source being scored.
- Source evaluated — Cochrane Library (cochranelibrary.com) · verified · full scoring record
- Source evaluated — PubMed (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) · verified · full scoring record
- Scoring rubric — SourceScore Index, Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity (methodology v0.1)
- Machine-readable record — /api/compare/cochrane-vs-pubmed.json