PubMed now includes a new relevance sort option! The “Relevance” sort option is available from the “Display Settings” menu under the “Sort by” selections. This option was added to PubMed on October 22.
The relevance sort order for search results is based on an algorithm that analyzes each PubMed citation that includes the search terms. For each search query, “weight” is calculated for citations depending on how many search terms are found and in which fields they are found. In addition, recently-published articles are given a somewhat higher weight for sorting.
The most recent sort by selection is retained for subsequent search results until a different sort order is selected, or after eight hours of inactivity.
Read more about this exciting new feature here.