Library Guides: Medicine: Medical Databases

Introduction - What is a database?

A database is a searchable collection of information. When doing research you should use a journal database to find journal articles. Each journal database contains thousands of articles. To search a database makes it quicker to find relevant articles than searching in individual journals.

Many databases contain the full-text of the items. Other databases only have citations, but you can link into PRIMO (our catalogue) to find the full text article.

On this page you will find a list of databases relevant to medicine

For more information on how to search a database see:

Key Medical Databases

You can find a complete list of Medical Science & Dentistry Journal Databases on the Library Website

CINAHL Plus with Full-Text This link opens in a new window
A significant international database covering nursing and allied health, available in the EBSCOhost platform with much available in full-text.
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) is the well known index to literature in the fields of nursing and allied health.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text is available as an EBSCOhost database and is actually a combination of 3 databases: CINAHL Plus with Full Text, CINAHL Select, and Pre-CINAHL. It provides the CINAHL index to journals in the areas of nursing and allied health, but also provides the full-text of more than 560 of these journals. Other resources that are indexed include: legal cases, drug records, clinical trials, professional publications, health care books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, and Evidence-Based Care Sheets.

While the traditional CINAHL includes material dating from 1982, CINAHL Plus with Full Text includes material going back to 1937.

The database is updated weekly.

This database is one of many available in EBSCOhost. It is also available to you as part of the EBSCOhost (Health) package. Once you are on the EBSCOhost search screen, you can change databases by clicking on the Choose Databases link above the search boxes. All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
Free (in Australia) access to international evidence-based healthcare resources, with much in full-text. Produced by the Cochrane Collaboration.
The Cochrane Library is the main product of the Cochrane Collaboration, whose stated role is to make available systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, while promoting the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions.

There are two main databases in the Cochrane Library, as follows:
* Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (aka Cochrane Reviews, CDSR)
* Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (aka CENTRAL, Clinical Trials).

Cochrane Library also includes Cochrane Clinical Answers - short, clinically-focussed entry-points to research; Special Collections - curated collections on specific healthcare topics; and search access to the Epistemonikos health evidence database.

For detailed descriptions of these databases and resources, go to About the Cochrane Library.

It is the Database of Systematic Reviews that is the main resource. This database includes all Cochrane Reviews (and protocols, which are reviews in preparation) prepared by Cochrane Review Groups. It also includes editorials and supplements. Material in this database is available in full-text.

When you search the Cochrane Library you will get results, in a tabbed format, from: Cochrane Reviews, Cochrane Protocols, Trials, Editorials, Special Collections, and Clinical Answers. A search performed in Basic Search will also return results from Epistemonikos (under the tab of "Other").

Cochrane Library is a subscription resource, but under an arrangement between the Australian Government and the Cochrane Collaboration, the resource is available free to internet users anywhere in Australia.

In addition to access via Cochrane, Charles Sturt users can access the Cochrane Library databases via the Ovid platform, where they are listed separately with titles beginning with EBM Reviews ....
Emcare This link opens in a new window
An Ovid database which covers nursing and allied health and includes primarily evidence-based clinical content.
Emcare indexes more than 3,700 international journals, including more than 1,800 journals not available on other databases. It includes nearly 5 million records dating back to 1995. 70% of records contain online abstracts.

Subjects covered include:

* Nursing
* Critical & Intensive Care
* Emergency Services
* Geriatrics & Palliative Care
* Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
* Behavioral Science & Psychology
* Complementary Medicine
* Medical & Laboratory Technology
* Nutrition & Dietetics
* Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation
* Public & Occupational Health.
Health Collection This link opens in a new window
An Informit Australian database of entirely full-text content covering allied health, nursing, ageing and aged care, child health, indigenous health, mental health, and rehabilitation. The link here will take you to the Informit platform with Health Collection selected.
Specific subjects covered include: audiology; biotechnology; children's health; complementary medicine; continence/urology; counselling; diseases; epidemiology; geriatric health; health management; indigenous health; medicine; medical informatics; mental illness; neurology; nuclear medicine; nursing; occupational therapy; physiotherapy; psychoanalysis; rehabilitation; rural health; and substance abuse.

Content includes research articles, reports and case studies. Informit claims that many of the peer-reviewed journals included in Health Collection are uniquely available through Informit. The database also provides access to some books and to grey literature such as conference proceedings and reports.

Coverage extends back to 1977.

Your searching from this link will be within the Health Collection database only. You can change the database(s) you are searching using the Change Databases button. Unless you have changed databases, you will continue to search in Health Collection. When you have run a search, your results list will include, at the top, which database(s) you have searched in.

You can use Basic Search or Advanced Search. Advanced Search offers more options for searching, and more limiters. When you have run a search, there are further options for filtering your results. For searching help, there is a useful set of Search Tips at the bottom of the Advanced Search Screen.
MEDLINE ALL (includes MeSH headings) [1946 to Present] This link opens in a new window
This major international health, medicine, and veterinary medicine database is available from Ovid in various packages. The version here includes material from 1946 to current.
MEDLINE is recognised as the premier index of biomedical literature. It includes health and medicine, allied health fields, and veterinary science, plus the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to health care. It is produced by the United States National Library of Medicine and covers thousands of international journals from 1946 - .

It is primarily a database of citations, but the Ovid version includes links to some full text journal titles from the database CSU Full Text Journals@Ovid, listed in the Charles Sturt databases lists as Journals@Ovid CSU Full Text Subscribed.

For the full-text of other items, use the >strong>Find it button to search for the full article via Primo Search.

MEDLINE is provided by Ovid in various date packages. These can be accessed from the Library's list of M-databases or from the Ovid menu of databases.

MEDLINE is very similar to the free and publicly available PubMed.
PsycINFO [1806 to Present] This link opens in a new window
A database of journal and other citations with some full-text available. Covers the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. Produced by the American Psychological Association and available in the Ovid platform.
The database includes material of relevance to psychologists, and professionals in related fields such as psychiatry, management, business, education, social science, neuroscience, law, medicine, and social work.

Updated weekly, PsycINFO provides access to journal articles, books, chapters, and dissertations. Most of the journals in PsycINFO are peer-reviewed.

It is primarily an index, but does include some full-text links to items in the Journals@Ovid database.

For information on things like numbers of records and languages/countries represented, see the APA's PsycINFO Factsheet.

This is one of many databases available in the Ovid platform. Once in the Ovid interface, you can change to another database by clicking on the Change link in the main search panel. All Ovid databases can be searched individually or in any combination.

Ovid provides PsycINFO in a number of date-range packages, and also provides PsycARTICLES Full Text , PsycBOOKS, and PsycTESTS.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
A multi-subject abstract and citation database of research literature. Known for its citation-tracking and bibliometric features.
Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature which offers coverage of more than 22,000 journals, and more than 150,000 books, from more than 5,000 publishers. There are nearly 70 million records and 1.4 billion cited references. Most records date since 1996 but Scopus has recently added records dated from 1970 - 1995.

Scopus does not in itself include the full-text of articles, but many records in a results list will have a View at publisher link. If that link doesn't work, use the Find it link to search for the full article via Primo Search.

Subject coverage includes:
* Life Sciences
* Health Sciences
* Physical Sciences
* Social Sciences & Humanities.

Scopus has a number of specialised features relating to bibliometrics which are mainly used by higher degree researchers. But one feature that might have wider application is the ability to use the View Cited By function to find articles that cite your selected articles(s). You can also sort your results list by citation count.

A note on access for academic/research staff: If you are academic/research staff and require access to your Charles Sturt researcher profile, please use this link - https://www.scopus.com - and sign in using the "Access through your Institution" option. Type Charles Sturt University into the search box and follow the prompts.
UpToDate This link opens in a new window
UpToDate is an evidence-based clinical medical resource which includes medical and patient information, drug information, and a number of medical calculators. It is continuously updated and is designed as a point-of-care clinical resource.
The main content consists of 11,000 topics across 25 medical specialities, which are written, edited, and reviewed by authors, experts, and peer-reviewers from around the world. Each topic includes a prominent Summary section or Summary and Recommendations section.

Other features include:
• 1500 patient education topics
• 33,000 graphics
• access to Lexi-comp drug monographs
• more than 175 medical calculators
• What’s New and Practice-Changing Updates
• UpToDate Pathways.

UpToDate has an uncluttered user-friendly interface. You can search across the whole resource, or, from the top tab-bar, you can access the Contents, Calculators, Drug interactions, and UpToDate Pathways. You can navigate between topics using hyperlinks in the text.

For information about UpToDate's peer review process, see the page on Editorial Policy.