Hello,
JabRef is very great, but I have the same issue with MEDLINE. I downloaded the 3.7 version and it doesn’t work, whereas some other searching sites work.
Thank you for the help
Error is :
Error while fetching from Medline
Please try again later…
unable to get PUBMED IDs
Hi!
I just tested it locally and it works fine for me.
Can you please check whether the Error Console (accessible using “Help -> Show error console”) provides some more information?
What was the search term you entered?
I tried very large search, like : skin ultrasound oct imaging
and also very precised one like PMID number : 23189155.
Could it be that the delay is too long and it stops the connection ?
The error is :
15:05:04.810 [JabRef CachedThreadPool] ERROR net.sf.jabref.gui.importer.fetcher.SearchBasedEntryFetcher - Error while fetching from Medline
net.sf.jabref.logic.importer.FetcherException: Unable to get PubMed IDs
at net.sf.jabref.logic.importer.fetcher.MedlineFetcher.getPubMedIdsFromQuery(MedlineFetcher.java:114) ~[JabRef-3.7.jar:?]
at net.sf.jabref.logic.importer.fetcher.MedlineFetcher.performSearch(MedlineFetcher.java:162) ~[JabRef-3.7.jar:?]
at net.sf.jabref.gui.importer.fetcher.SearchBasedEntryFetcher.processQuery(SearchBasedEntryFetcher.java:37) ~[JabRef-3.7.jar:?]
at net.sf.jabref.gui.importer.fetcher.GeneralFetcher.lambda$actionPerformed$5(GeneralFetcher.java:217) ~[JabRef-3.7.jar:?]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) [?:1.8.0_77]
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.8.0_77]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) [?:1.8.0_77]
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.connect0(Native Method) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.security.ssl.SSLSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.security.ssl.BaseSSLSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.NetworkClient.doConnect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.http.HttpClient.openServer(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.<init>(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsClient.New(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.getNewHttpClient(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect0(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.plainConnect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.AbstractDelegateHttpsURLConnection.connect(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream0(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection.getInputStream(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at sun.net.www.protocol.https.HttpsURLConnectionImpl.getInputStream(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at java.net.URL.openStream(Unknown Source) ~[?:1.8.0_77]
at net.sf.jabref.logic.importer.fetcher.MedlineFetcher.getPubMedIdsFromQuery(MedlineFetcher.java:76) ~[JabRef-3.7.jar:?]
... 6 more
Hmm…
Both of your queries work for me.
The error java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out: connect either indicates that the accessed server is down (which is at least at the moment not the case) or that the connection is somehow blocked - most likely by a firewall.
You have already tested other web searches within JabRef? E.g., Google Scholar or Springer? And they are working?
Can you please check whether you can directly access the URL https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/esearch.fcgi?db=pubmed&sort=relevance&retmax=50&term=skin+ultrasound+oct+imaging in your browser. Does this work? (an XML-Dokument is loaded beginning with <eSearchResult><Count>221</Count><RetMax>50</RetMax><RetStart>0</RetStart><IdList> ...)
Not all the search data base work, CiteSeerX works quickly and only for simple search.
The direct search of the URL seems to work :
It sends :
-
221
50
0
-
22766121
19566334
20202160
25253828
…
Okay. Then I can’t really help you, as a) JabRef is generally not blocked and b) the medline URL is not generally blocked and medline is up and running I don’t really understand what is wrong here. 
Thanks for helping. Just eventually, would it possible that Jabref tries a longer time to stay connected?