ACCESS to databases
Top 15 of most requested databases:
- PubMed
- Embase (Ovid)
- MEDLINE (Ovid)
- Cochrane Library
- Cinahl (Ebsco)
- PsycInfo (Ovid)
- Scopus (Elsevier)
- Web of Science (Clarivate)
- UpToDate (Wolters Kluwer)
- ERIC (Ovid)
- SPORTDiscus (Ebsco)
- Trip Medical database
- Pedro
- IEEE Xplore
- Grey Literature
Note: For institutional access, login to your digital workspace (mijnwerkplek)
Suggestions for database(s)? bibliotheek@amsterdamumc.nl
What is PubMed?
PubMed contains 37 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. It provides free access to MEDLINE, the largest international biomedical database, via www.pubmed.gov. MEDLINE contains references from over 5,200 journals and has more than 31
million records from 1946 to the present. PubMed overview.
Why use PubMed?
PubMed is up-to-date, provides links to the full text of articles on participating publishers' websites, information about journal titles can be found via the Journals Database, electronic books can be accessed through PubMed, and unique search filters, search fields, and limits are available.
Links:
Amsterdam UMC offers the e-learning Searching for Literature.
What is Embase?
Embase is a biomedical and pharmacological database of evidence-based research.
Embase has its own controlled vocabulary system: Emtree thesaurus.
Coverage focuses on the topics: Pharmacology and toxicology, General clinical medicine, Genetics, biochemistry & molecular biology, Neurology & behavioral medicine, Microbiology & infectious disease, Cardiology & hematology, Psychiatry & mental health, Oncology, Healthcare policy & management, Allergy & immunology, Pediatrics, Endocrinology & metabolism, Obstetrics & gynecology, Biomedical engineering & medical devices, Anesthesiology & intensive care, Gastroenterology, Respiratory medicine, Nephrology & urology, Dermatology, Geriatrics & gerontology. There is selective coverage for nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychology, and alternative medicine.
Why use Embase?
There are specific search fields, such as searching by trial numbers, commercial drug names, and manufacturer names of medical equipment. Additionally, there are specialized limits that are not commonly found in other databases: method of drug administration, age groups, types of experimental animals, and evidence-based medicine search filter.
Links:
How to use Embase?
What is MEDLINE?
MEDLINE is a bibliographic database for scholarly literature and research in the biomedical field. It provides access to extensive bibliographic citations and author abstracts from over 23 million articles sourced from more than 5,600 journals in biomedicine and life sciences, covering nearly 40 languages.
Why use MEDLINE?
MEDLINE is globally recognized as a premier bibliographic source for scholarly literature and research in the biomedical field. The thesaurus used in Medline is called Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).
Links:
How to use MEDLINE?
What is the Cochrane Library?
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases aimed at providing evidence-based medicine information, with access to systematic reviews published by The Cochrane Collaboration as its central component. The different databases are: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Protocols, Editorials, Special Collections, Clinical Answers.
Why use the Cochrane Library?
Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. Through the homepage, there is access to a basic search interface where users can choose from various options in a drop-down menu. From here, searches are conducted across all collections of the Library simultaneously. All Cochrane systematic reviews can also be searched in full text, and access to past editions of a Cochrane review is available. Through the advanced search option, it is also possible to perform more sophisticated searches, for example using MeSH terms or proximity operators.
Links:
How to use the Cochrane Library?
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature) is a database for general and specialized nursing, biomedical fields, health sciences, physical therapy, rehabilitation, speech therapy and dietetics, and other paramedical fields and patient information, (nursing) management,
behavioral sciences, and education.
Why use CINAHL?
CINAHL is particularly suitable for nursing due to its content (journals) and more comprehensive keyword indexing. Unlike many other databases, in addition to metadata (title, abstract, etc.), the full text of a select number of journals can also be searched.
The CINAHL Headings are derived from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of MEDLINE (PubMed). In many cases, the CINAHL Headings resemble the MeSH terms of MEDLINE, but this is not always the case. CINAHL also employs unique terms for nursing and related fields. These unique terms in CINAHL are indexed more comprehensively and in greater depth compared to the MeSH terms of MEDLINE.
Links:
How to use CINAHL?
What is PsycInfo?
PsycInfo contains citations and summaries of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations and technical reports in the field of psychology and psychological aspects of related disciplines such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing, behavioral and social science. PsycInfo has its own controlled vocabulary system: the APA thesaurus.
Why use PsycInfo?
There are specific search fields, such as searching by (names of) psychological tests, APA classification codes (useful for generic concepts like 'learning & memory'), age groups, author keywords, study design, and EBM search filters.
Links:
How to use PsycInfo?
What is Scopus?
Scopus is a multidisciplinary database that includes abstracts and citations from peer-reviewed literature, encompassing scientific journals, books, and conference proceedings. It offers a thorough representation of global research across disciplines such as science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
Why use Scopus?
Scopus serves as the premier abstract and indexing research discovery tool for academia, business, and government. It supports researchers seeking scientific advancements, academic institutions, and government agencies assessing research. Globally, Scopus is trusted by over 3,000 academic, governmental, and corporate organizations as the primary data source powering Elsevier's Research Intelligence.
Links:
How to use Scopus?
What is Web of Science?
Web of Science (WoS) is a multidisciplinary database consisting of citation indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index. The indexes include more than 11,000 journals and proceedings of about 12,000 scientific conferences.
In WoS you can find out who is cited (cited author) and on the basis of which publication it is cited (cited work).
Why use Web of Science?
WoS can be used to find literature on a particular topic in addition to other literature databases. Every description of an article shows citations used by the author enabling you to see who has cited the article and how often. This allows you to find out from a particular publication which authors have referred to the article you are referring to in more recent publications.
In WoS, you can also calculate the H-index of an author or create a Citation Map (a graphical representation that shows the citation relationship between articles .
Links:
How to use Web of Science?
Clarivate offers a detailed libguide tutorial
UpToDate (UTD) is a so-called Point of Care Tool, providing current evidence-based summaries and recommendations of clinically relevant topics. UpTodate covers all subspecialties of medicineand topics are described and peer-reviewed by expert specialists.
Additionally, UTD contains patient information, medical calculators and drug information.
Information is used worldwide in more than 100.000 hospitals and maintained from 450 peer-reviewed journals; electronic databases such as MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library , Clinical Evidence and guidelines. Topics are updated when important new developments occur.
Why use UpToDate?
UpToDate is especially useful for quickly finding answers to clinical problems and for background information. It integrates evidence with clinical experience. UpToDate uses the GRADE method for assessing and grading the evidence on interventions and screening.
Links:
How to use UpToDate?
UpToDate offers an tutorial
What is ERIC ?
The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) search engine is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education toprovide extensive access to educational-related literature. ERIC provides coverage of open access journal articles, and some unpublished full-text documents on conferences, meetings, reports, and more.
Why use ERIC?
ERIC is specific to the field of education. It is a search engine that has easy-to-use options for narrowing your search, discovering related terms in its thesaurus, exploring 'descriptors,' and using education-specific search strategies (eg. selecting the level of education you're researching or information about education laws and policies.) These search options are unique to education and a great way to start your research!
Links:
How to use ERIC?
ERIC offers a fine tutorial
What is SPORTDiscus?
SportDiscus (Ebsco) is a database which searches for journal articles, magazine articles and books on topics relating to sport, including sports medicine, fitness & exercise, sport psychology, physical education and many other areas. SPORTDiscus searches through well over a million different articles as well as thousands of books and reports, with information dating back over 100 years.
Why use SPORTDiscus?
Due to the range of subjects it covers, SPORTDiscus is extremely useful for sport-related programmes, including Sport & Exercise Science, Sports Therapy & Rehabilitation, Sport Coaching Science and Sport & Exercise Psychology. It is also well worth using for Physical Education and Physiotherapy students orr students from other subjects researching topics such as physiology, nutrition, recreation and the impact of exercise on health.
Links:
What is Trip?
Trip (Turning Research into practice) is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice or care focusing on evidence based content. Trip
is searched over 125,000,000 times, millions of articles items are indexed & uniquely ranked.
Why use Trip?
TRIP is an unique EBM search engine to start your clinical question. It includes: Evidence Based Synopses. Clinical Questions.
Links:
How to use Trip?
The TRIP blog is very informative!
What is PEDro?
PEDrois the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. It has been developed to give rapid access to bibliographic details and abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. Most trials on the database have been rated for quality to help you quickly discriminate between trials which are likely to be valid and interpretable and those which are not.
Why use PEDro?
The PEDro scale assists readers to quickly assess whether a clinical trial presents reliable and meaningful results for use in clinical practice. The database classifies clinical trials only and scores them by adding the number of items on the scale (0-10) that have been met.
Links:
How to use PEDro?
PEDro offers an extensive tutorial including search tips.
What is IEEE Xplore?
IEEE Xplore is a digital library providing full text access to the world's highest quality technical literature in electrical engineering, computer science, electronics, and related disciplines.
Why use IEEE Xplore?
IEEE Xplore contains full-text documents from IEEE journals, magazines, conference proceedings, and standards, in addition to eBooks and educational courses. IEEE Xplore also includes content from select other publishers including the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), MIT Press, IBM, Nokia Bell Labs, VDE Verlag, Tsinghua University Press, Oxford University Press (OUP), Beijing Institute of Aerospace Information (BIAI), now Publishers, Packt Publishing, River Publishers, IEICE, and more.
Links:
How to use IEEE Xplore?
What is Grey Literature?
Grey (or gray) Literature is generally material not published commercially or indexed by major databases. This topic guide Grey literature for Health Sciences is for students and researchers in Health Sciences. It provides information about grey literature en gives an overview of useful resources.
Why use Grey Literature?
Sometimes it is useful to take a look outside academia (scientific publications).
Links:
How to use Grey Literature?
The Vrije Universiteit created a wonderful and self explaining libguide!