PubMatrixPython v0.2

Python port of the PubMatrixR R package.

For every pair of search terms (A, B), it counts how many PubMed or PMC publications mention both. Good for mapping relationships between genes, diseases, and pathways across the literature.

Based on: Becker et al. (2003) PubMatrix: a tool for multiplex literature mining. BMC Bioinformatics 4:61. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-4-61

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Key features

• Pairwise literature search — automatically searches every combination of terms from two lists
• PubMed or PMC — query MEDLINE abstracts or PMC full text via NCBI E-utilities
• Heatmap visualisation — overlap-percentage heatmaps with optional hierarchical clustering
• Export to CSV or ODS — results include clickable hyperlinks to the matching PubMed search
• Date filtering — restrict searches to a publication year range
• Flexible input — pass term lists directly, or load them from a text file
• Concurrency — n_workers for parallel queries, respecting NCBI rate limits
• Disk caching — cache_dir persists query results between runs
• Progress tracking — built-in progress bar for long searches

Use cases

• Gene–disease association studies — explore literature connections between genes and diseases
• Pathway analysis — investigate co-occurrence of genes within or across biological pathways
• Drug–target research — analyse relationships between compounds and potential targets
• Systematic literature reviews — quantify research coverage across multiple topics
• Knowledge gap identification — find under-researched combinations of terms
• Bibliometric analysis — measure research activity in a domain over time

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Installation

Install from PyPI with your package manager of choice.

pip

pip install pubmatrixpython

uv

uv add pubmatrixpython

pixi

pixi add --pypi pubmatrixpython

ODS export requires the optional odfpy dependency:

pip install pubmatrixpython[ods]

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Development setup

Requires uv. Install it with:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Clone and install dependencies:

git clone <repo-url>
cd PubMatrixPython
uv sync --all-groups

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Running the notebooks

All uv commands must be run from the project root (PubMatrixPython/), where pyproject.toml lives.

cd /path/to/PubMatrixPython
uv run jupyter lab

Then open any notebook from the notebooks/ folder in the browser.

Notebook	What it covers
01_pubmatrix.ipynb	Basic queries, date filtering, PMC database, file input, CSV export, heatmap visualisation
02_example_wnt.ipynb	Full worked example: WNT genes × obesity genes

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Quick start (script or REPL)

Interactive REPL

uv run python

from pubmatrix import pubmatrix, plot_pubmatrix_heatmap

A = ["WNT1", "WNT2", "CTNNB1"]
B = ["obesity", "diabetes", "cancer"]

result = pubmatrix(A=A, B=B)
print(result)

plot_pubmatrix_heatmap(result, title="WNT × Disease")

Running a script

Create a file my_analysis.py:

from pubmatrix import pubmatrix, plot_pubmatrix_heatmap

A = ["WNT1", "WNT2", "WNT3A", "WNT5A", "CTNNB1"]
B = ["obesity", "diabetes", "cancer", "inflammation"]

result = pubmatrix(
    A=A,
    B=B,
    database="pubmed",
    daterange=[2010, 2024],   # optional date filter
    outfile="results",
    export_format="csv",      # saves results_result.csv with PubMed hyperlinks
)

print(result)

plot_pubmatrix_heatmap(
    result,
    title="WNT Genes × Disease",
    filename="heatmap.png",   # saves to file instead of displaying
)

Run it with:

uv run python my_analysis.py

Loading terms from a file

Create terms.txt:

WNT1
WNT2
CTNNB1
#
obesity
diabetes
cancer

from pubmatrix import pubmatrix_from_file

result = pubmatrix_from_file("terms.txt")
print(result)

uv run python my_analysis.py

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API reference

pubmatrix(A, B, ...)

Query PubMed and return a pandas.DataFrame (rows = B, cols = A).

pubmatrix(
    A,                    # list of str — column terms
    B,                    # list of str — row terms
    api_key=None,         # NCBI API key (10 req/s vs 3 req/s default)
    database="pubmed",    # "pubmed" or "pmc"
    daterange=None,       # e.g. [2015, 2024]
    outfile=None,         # base filename for export
    export_format=None,   # None | "csv" | "ods"
    n_tries=2,            # retries on network failure
    n_workers=1,          # parallel workers for concurrent queries
    timeout=30,           # HTTP request timeout in seconds
    cache_dir=None,       # directory to cache query results on disk
)

pubmatrix_from_file(filepath, ...)

Load terms from a plain-text file and run pubmatrix().

File format:

WNT1
WNT2
#
obesity
diabetes

result = pubmatrix_from_file("terms.txt", database="pubmed")

plot_pubmatrix_heatmap(matrix, ...)

Heatmap of overlap percentages with optional hierarchical clustering. Returns (fig, ax).

fig, ax = plot_pubmatrix_heatmap(
    matrix,                                        # DataFrame from pubmatrix()
    title="PubMatrix Co-occurrence Heatmap",
    cluster_rows=True,
    cluster_cols=True,
    show_numbers=True,
    color_palette=None,                            # list of hex colours
    filename=None,                                 # save to PNG if set
    width=10, height=8,
    scale_font=True,
    show=False,                                    # call plt.show() after plotting
)

pubmatrix_heatmap(matrix, title=...)

Quick wrapper around plot_pubmatrix_heatmap() with all defaults. Returns (fig, ax).

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Output files

When outfile and export_format are set, results are written to {outfile}_result.{extension} (.csv or .ods). Each cell contains the publication count and a hyperlink to the matching PubMed search. Row names come from B, column names from A.

ODS export requires the optional odfpy dependency — see Installation.

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NCBI API key

Without a key: 3 requests/second. With a key: 10 requests/second. Get one at https://account.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

result = pubmatrix(A=A, B=B, api_key="YOUR_KEY_HERE")

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More documentation

• Performance notes — rate limits, caching, concurrency
• Troubleshooting — empty results, rate limiting, slow searches
• Full reference notebook — every parameter and feature, with output

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License & citation

This project is licensed under the MIT License — see LICENSE.md.

If you use PubMatrixPython in your research, please cite:

Becker KG, Hosack DA, Dennis G Jr, Lempicki RA, Bright TJ, Cheadle C, Engel J. PubMatrix: a tool for multiplex literature mining. BMC Bioinformatics. 2003 Dec 10;4:61. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-4-61

Developers:

• Tyler Laird (Author, original PubMatrixR)
• Enrique Toledo (Author, maintainer)