How to use the PDF File Download service at ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc?

The PDF File Download service at ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc allows you to download the full content of an article in PDF format. This is only available for Open Access articles that are licensed for non-commercial use.

PDF Download files are organized into sub-directories and files as shown below:

/oa_non_comm_use_pdf.csv
/oa_non_comm_use_pdf.txt
/oa_pdf/
  00/
    00/
      RA-008-C8RA04873H.PMC9088548.pdf        
      TurkJPhysMedRehab-67-526.PMC8790252.pdf 
      bmjopen-2015-008356.PMC4593153.pdf      
      cm9-133-2247.PMC7508451.pdf             
      edinbmedsurgj72399-0040.PMC5763239.pdf  
      ...
    ..
  ..

As you can see from the above list, the PDF file of each is located randomly in 2-level sub-directory of xx/xx. You need to download the oa_non_comm_use_pdf.csv or oa_non_comm_use_pdf.txt file to find out which article is located in which sub-directory.

The "oa_non_comm_use_pdf" file contains several fields as shown in the following example: with Accession ID (or PMCID) as the public ID of the article and PMID as the internal ID:

File - oa_pdf/8d/22/20020509.PMC1193645.pdf
Article Citation - J Exp Med. 2004 Jan 5; 199(1):25-34
Accession ID - PMC1193645
Last Updated (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS) - 2007-06-06 05:23:25
PMID - 14699080
License - CC BY-NC-SA

⇒ PMC FTP Service - ID Map Download

⇐ PMC FTP Service - Article Package Download

⇑ PubMed Central (PMC) DOI Database

⇑⇑ DOI - Frequently Asked Questions