LibGuides: Searching the medical literature: Where to search

Finding articles

OneSearch is a good place to start - use it to get an idea of the amount of literature there is on your subject.

However most researchers need to use specialist databases because they

are often more comprehensive
have search tools not available through OneSearch
focus on your area and so reduce irrelevant material

You should search several different databases because:

each database covers a different range of journals and other sources
the years covered vary
some databases focus on a particular subjecty area and so will return papers which are especially relevant to you
indexing systems vary and you may retrieve different papers
search tools vary

The Medicine subject guide provides a full list of the different types and sources of information commonly used in Medicine.

Medicine databases

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Cochrane Reviews represent the highest level of evidence on which to base clinical treatment decisions. In addition to Cochrane Reviews, The Cochrane Library provides other sources of reliable information: other systematic reviews abstracts, technology assessments, economic evaluations, and individual clinical trials.
EMBASE: Excerpta Medica This link opens in a new window
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Index of several thousand journals in the fields of health, medicine and biomedical engineering. There is selective coverage for nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychology, and alternative medicine.
MEDLINE Complete This link opens in a new window
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This full-text database provides access to top-tier biomedical and health journals. Covering a wide range of subjects, it is an essential resource for doctors, nurses, health professionals and researchers engaged in clinical care, public health and health policy development.
It includes full-text access to over 2,300 journal titles.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
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New interface from May 2020. The National Library of Medicine's free search service, providing access to millions of citations in MEDLINE, PreMEDLINE and other related databases.

Over 240 databases are available from the Library.

Full list of databases: A-Z

Health and social care databases

AMED (Alternative Medicine) This link opens in a new window
An alternative medicine database for physicians, therapists, medical researchers and clinicians looking to learn more about alternative treatments - including complementary medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, podiatry, palliative care, and more.
Child Development & Adolescent Studies This link opens in a new window
Child Development & Adolescent Studies, produced by NISC, is today’s source for references to the current and historical literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21. Book reviews and abstracts from hundreds of journals and a bibliography of thousands of technical reports, books, book chapters, theses and dissertations covering biomedical and social sciences worldwide are indexed.
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health) This link opens in a new window
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An essential tool for nursing research. Covers nursing, public health, alternative/complementary medicine, health sciences librarianship, and 17 allied health disciplines.

Includes health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of practice, audiovisuals and book chapters, journals, legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, research instruments and clinical trials.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
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Created by the American Psychological Association (APA), this database contains millions of abstracts, citations and summaries of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books and dissertations, dating back to the 1600s.
Social Care Online (SCIE) This link opens in a new window
Social Care Online is the UK's largest online database of information on all aspects of social work and social care. It includes legislation, government documents, practice and guidance, systematic reviews, research briefings, UK grey (informally-published) literature, books, text books and journal articles. The database is updated daily and contains around 155,000 records from the 1980s onwards.

Please Note: Social Care Online is free to search but to use all of its features you will need a Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) account. If you do not have a SCIE account, please use the 'Sign up today' link' to go to the SCIE site. Once you have registered, you can return to Social Care Online and login using the details you gave us.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
SocINDEX with Full Text is a full-text research database covering sociology and related disciplines. It features hundreds of full-text journals and millions of records with subject headings from a sociological thesaurus. Subjects covered include gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, religion, racial studies and social work.

In addition to full-text journals, SocINDEX with Full Text contains informative abstracts for core coverage journals dating as far back as 1895. Complete with extensive indexing for books, monographs, conference papers and other non-periodical content sources, the database also includes searchable cited references.
SPORTDiscus This link opens in a new window
SPORTDiscus provides full-text content from many respected journals in sports and sports medicine studies. Subject coverage includes fitness, health, and sport studies.

Over 240 databases are available from the Library.

Full list of databases: A-Z

Grey literature

Grey literature includes reports, conference proceedings, standards and patents, government publications and many other important documents which aren’t books or journal articles.

Decolonising Literature Searching

If your topic is focused on worldwide issues, or concerns multicultural topics, it is recommended to read the Decolonising Literature Searching LibGuide