What it does
PubCrawl searches published literature, clinical trial registries, and prescribing information to help medical writers find, explore, and evaluate the evidence base for a project. It supports structured searches across PubMed, trial databases, SmPCs, and USPIs — and can retrieve abstracts, full texts, and citation details for the papers you need.The problem it solves
Before a medical writer can summarise a paper, extract key messages, or build a content outline, they need to find the right sources. Literature discovery is often the first step in a project — and one of the most time-consuming. Searching PubMed, filtering results, cross-referencing trial registries, and tracking down prescribing information across multiple databases is manual, repetitive work. PubCrawl consolidates this into a single search workflow. The writer defines what they are looking for — by indication, compound, trial ID, or research question — and PubCrawl returns structured results they can evaluate and feed into downstream workflows.How it differs from RefCheckr
PubCrawl and RefCheckr serve different stages of the content development pipeline:| PubCrawl | RefCheckr | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Before writing — finding and selecting sources | After writing — verifying claims against cited sources |
| Purpose | Literature discovery and evidence exploration | Claim-to-reference accuracy checking |
| Input | A search query, indication, or compound name | A document with claims and cited references |
| Output | Papers, abstracts, trial records, prescribing information | Verification results (supported / not supported / mismatch) |
Where it fits in the playbook
PubCrawl is most relevant at the start of a project, before the core writing workflows begin:| Workflow | Role |
|---|---|
| Summarise a source paper | Supporting tool — find and retrieve the paper before summarising it |
| Extract key messages | Supporting tool — identify the evidence base and find related publications |
| Congress / poster summary | Supporting tool — find related publications and trial data alongside poster content |
How to use it in a workflow
- Define your search — Specify the indication, compound, trial, or research question
- Run PubCrawl — Search across PubMed, trial registries, and prescribing information databases
- Review results — Evaluate the returned papers, abstracts, and records for relevance
- Select your sources — Choose the publications that will serve as source materials for the project
- Proceed to the writing workflow — Feed the selected sources into Summarise a Source Paper, Extract Key Messages, or another downstream workflow
What it does well
- Searches PubMed and returns structured citation data and abstracts
- Retrieves full-text articles where available
- Searches clinical trial registries for trial records and results
- Retrieves SmPCs and USPIs for prescribing information
- Finds related papers from a starting reference
- Supports indication-based and compound-based searches
What it does not do
- Does not assess study quality. PubCrawl finds publications — it does not appraise their methodology or assess risk of bias.
- Does not replace a systematic literature review. For formal SLRs, PubCrawl can support the search phase but does not replace the structured methodology, screening, or reporting required.
- Does not select your sources for you. The writer decides which papers are relevant, appropriate, and sufficient for the project.
Risk tier
PubCrawl is used in low-risk workflows. It supports the evidence discovery phase, which is a preparatory step before content development begins. The risk sits in what you do with the sources you find — not in finding them.Try PubCrawl at PharmaTools.AI →