Research guides: OCT1233 Occupational Therapy Practice 3: Health sciences databases

Health Science Database Ecosystem

There are two types of databases in the health sciences: subject databases and citation indexes.

Subject Databases for Health Sciences

MEDLINE
Premier database for biomedical journal articles. Interface allows for expert searching (e.g. use of MeSH) when conducting systematic reviews, scoping reviews, etc. Covers approx. 4000 journals; international in scope.

PubMed vs OVID Medline
PubMed = Public Medline MEDLINE is the largest component of PubMed (http://pubmed.gov/), the freely accessible online database of biomedical journal citations and abstracts created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM®). In addition to MEDLINE citations, PubMed also contains, among other items, in-process citations which provide a record for an article before it is indexed with MeSH and added to MEDLINE or converted to out-of-scope status. More information here. If you are searching Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE® Daily and Ovid MEDLINE® 1946-Present effectively, there is no reason to ALSO search PubMED. Ask your librarian for details.

PubMed vs OVID Medline

PubMed = Public Medline

MEDLINE is the largest component of PubMed (http://pubmed.gov/), the freely accessible online database of biomedical journal citations and abstracts created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM®). In addition to MEDLINE citations, PubMed also contains, among other items, in-process citations which provide a record for an article before it is indexed with MeSH and added to MEDLINE or converted to out-of-scope status. More information here.

If you are searching Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE® Daily and Ovid MEDLINE® 1946-Present effectively, there is no reason to ALSO search PubMED. Ask your librarian for details.

EMBASE
Large biomedical database with emphasis on drug research and pharmacology; good coverage of alternative therapies, occupational therapy and physical thaerapy. Covers approx. 4000 journals (1200 which are not in MEDLINE); international in scope.
CINAHL
CINAHL is the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health. It contains fundamental content for nursing and other allied health professions, such as physical and rehabilitation therapy. Some of this content cannot be found in PubMed or MEDLINE. CINAHL matches terms to Subject Headings in the same manner as MEDLINE
PsycInfo
Major database for scholarly literature in psychology and behavioural sciences. Covers approx. 1800 journals as well as books, reports, theses and dissertations

Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts of scholarly journals, dissertations, books, and conference papers in the social and behavioural sciences.
Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) This link opens in a new window
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Includes Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), and Cochrane Clinical Answers. The Wiley platform is appropriate for systematic and scoping reviews as well as other advanced searches.

Key Citation Indexes

Health science research is often multidisciplinary. Below is a list of multidisciplinary databases to start you in the right path. You can also use these databases to conduct basic searches to 'scope' out a subject; quickly find seminal articles; and conduct bibliometrics research. We do not recommend searching these databases as part of a systematic review.

SCOPUS
A major multidisciplinary database for the social sciences, life sciences, health sciences, physical sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus covers research literature published in academic journals, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, and book series. Scopus also covers 200 million quality Web sources, including 12.7 million patents.

Web of Science: Core Collection This link opens in a new window

More Information

For more information about how to search for information in the health sciences: see Searching the Literature: A Guide to Comprehensive Searching in the Health Sciences

Research Guides

OCT1233 Occupational Therapy Practice 3

Rehabilitation Sciences Librarian

Health Science Database Ecosystem

Subject Databases for Health Sciences

Key Citation Indexes

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