Searchable Research
Databases
(*indicates available online via
UMDNJ Libraries)
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Searchable Research
Databases |
Evidence-based databases contain only information that has been 'filtered' or screened for its quality by the application of standards that typically ensure a high level of level of validity and clinical relevance. They should be visited first when trying to answer a clinical (foreground) question.. The following are the most common of the health and medical-oriented evidence-based databases:
The ACP Journal Club Collection is a searchable database and journal browser that covers the contents of two evidence-based journals: ACP Journal Club (American College of Physicians), and Evidence-Based Medicine (British Medical Journal Group). Contents include enhanced abstracts of articles selected from the top clinical journals, screened for methodological rigor and clinical relevant.
Produced by the BMJ Publishing Group, Clinical Evidence is a compendium of evidence-based summaries on the prevention and treatment of a wide range of clinical conditions. The summaries are based on thorough searches and appraisal of the literature and a rigorous process aimed at ensuring that the information they contain is both reliable and relevant to clinical practice.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is a searchable database that includes the full text of the regularly updated systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare prepared by The Cochrane Collaboration. The reviews are presented in two types: 1) complete reviews and 2) protocols for reviews currently being prepared (the background, objectives and methods of reviews in preparation).
The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials is a bibliographic database of definitive controlled trials maintained by the Cochrane Collaboration. The database contains over 300,000 bibliographic references to controlled trials in health care derived from Cochrane group and other specialized registers and references to clinical trials identified in MEDLINE and EMBASE. Quality control standards ensure that only reports of definite randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials are included.
The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects is a collection of full text structured abstracts critiquing systematic reviews from all over the world. Produced by the expert reviewers and information staff of the National Health Services' Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS CRD) at the University of York.
A search engine with access to evidence-based sources for clinicians. Includes a POEMS (Patient Oriented Evidence that Matters) library, Cochrane Database abstracts, collections of clinical decision rules, diagnostic tests, history and physical exam maneuvers, and drug information.
Unfiltered databases provide searchable access to 'raw' bibliographic data, i.e., citations, abstracts and (in some cases) full-text of all forms of articles found in the health and medical-oriented periodical literature. Given the wide range of quality and different levels of evidence found throughout the journal literature, the burden is on the user to identify relevant information and evaluate its quality. For these reasons, unfiltered databases are always the second choice when trying to answer a specific clinical (foreground) question.. The following are the most common of the health and medical-oriented unfiltered databases:
Produced by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the MEDLINE database is widely recognized as the premier source for bibliographic and abstract coverage of biomedical literature. MEDLINE encompasses information from Index Medicus, Index to Dental Literature, and the International Nursing Index, as well as other sources of coverage in the areas of allied health, biological and physical sciences, humanities and information science as they relate to medicine and health care, communication disorders, population biology, and reproductive biology. More than 12 million records from more than 4,600 journals are indexed. Approximately 75% of the records provide abstracts.
The Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health (CINAHL) database provides authoritative coverage of the literature related to nursing and allied health. Virtually all English-language publications are indexed along with the publications of the American Nurses Association and the National League for Nursing. Primary journals are indexed from the following allied health fields:
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Cardiopulmonary Technology |
Occupational Therapy |
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Emergency Service |
Physical Therapy |
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Health Education |
Physician Assistant |
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Medical/Laboratory |
Radiologic Technology |
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Medical Assistant |
Social Service/Hlth Care |
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Medical Records |
Surgical Technology |
Selected journals are also indexed in the areas of consumer health, biomedicine, and health sciences librarianship. In total, more than 500 journals are regularly indexed; online abstracts are available for more than 150 of these titles. The database also provides access to healthcare books, nursing dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of professional practice, educational software and audiovisual materials in nursing.
More than 6,400 CINAHL subject headings provide specific access to citations. Approximately 70 percent of CINAHL headings also appear in MEDLINE. CINAHL supplements these headings with 2,000+ terms designed specifically for nursing and allied health.
The Current Contents Search (CC Search) database provides access to the tables of contents and bibliographic data from current issues of the world's leading scholarly research journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Cover-to-cover indexing of journal articles, reviews, meeting abstracts, editorials, etc., is provided for more than 7500 international journals covering all disciplines. Complete bibliographic information, including English-language author abstracts (for approximately 85% of articles and reviews in the science editions), author keywords, KeyWords Plus®, and ISSNs are provided.
Current Contents includes several database subsets, each of which may be searched individually. The two most commonly searched by health professional are Clinical Medicine (CLIN)* and Life Sciences (LIFE).* Other subsets pertinent to the health-related professions include Social & Behavioral Sciences (BEHA),* Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences (PHYS), and Engineering, Computing, & Technology (TECH).
Healthstar focuses on both the clinical and non-clinical aspects of health care delivery. The database contains citations to the published literature on health services, technology, administration, and research collated from the MEDLINE database, the Hospital Literature Index, and selected journals. Besides journal article citations and abstracts, Healthstar also includes information on monographs, technical reports, meeting abstracts and papers, book chapters, government documents, and newspaper articles from 1975 to the present. Coverage includes the following topics: evaluation of patient outcomes; effectiveness of procedures, programs, products, services and processes; administration and planning of health facilities, services and manpower; health insurance; health policy; health services research; health economics and financial management; laws and regulation; personnel administration; quality assurance; licensure; and accreditation. Citations are indexed with the NLM's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in order to ensure compatibility with other NLM databases.
EMBASE is a database covering biomedicine and pharmacology produced in the Netherlands by Elsevier Science. It covers 3800 international journals, including 1200 titles that are not in MEDLINE. Its journal content is determined by a committee of scientific experts who assess the quality of the content of a journal (usually peer reviewed). The database contains journal citations and abstracts; about 75% of its content is English.
Excerpta Medica includes journal articles, conference papers, editorials, letters, review articles and short surveys It offers in depth coverage of: drug research, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, pharmacy and toxicology; human medicine (both clinical and experimental); basic biological research relevant to human medicine; health policy, management and pharmacoeconomics; public, occupational and environmental health, including epidemiology and ergonomics; substance dependance and abuse, including eating disorders; psychiatry; forensic medicine and biomedical engineering and instrumentation. It offers selective coverage of: nursing, dentistry, veterinary science, psychology and alternative medicine, including homeopathy
The Excerpta Medica thesaurus of subject headings is called EMTREE. EMTREE is accessible on all online versions of the database if you choose the Thesaurus option. It is also available in print format in the reference department of subscribing libraries. The online version is complete; the paper version is only a subset of the whole file.
The International Pharmaceutical Abstracts database provides worldwide coverage of pharmaceutical science and health related literature from 1970 to the present, and is updated monthly. Comprehensive information is included for drug therapy, toxicity, and pharmacy practice as well as legislation, regulation, technology, utilization, biopharmaceutics, information processing, education, economics, and ethics as related to pharmaceutical science and practice. The database draws material from over 850 primary journals from throughout the world and from all U.S. state pharmacy journals, and currently includes over 400,000 records.
Produced by The American Psychological Association, PsycINFO covers the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Coverage is worldwide, and includes references and abstracts to over 1300 journals (and dissertations) in more than 30 languages, and to book chapters and books in the English language. Over 50,000 references are added annually. Popular literature is excluded.
ClinPSYC is a subset of the PsycINFO database (see above). ClinPSYC covers over 1,300 journals and provides references with abstracts from journal literature in clinical and medical psychology and is a useful complement to the more focused medical databases. Subjects covered include the description, treatment, prevention, and diagnosis of psychological and mental disorders, neuropsychology, psychopharmacology, and issues pertaining to health and mental health personnel.
BIOSIS Previews is the world's most comprehensive indexing and abstracting service in the life sciences, covering over 7,000 journals and including over 11,000,000 citations (5,200,000 with abstracts). BIOSIS Previews includes original research reports and reviews across all biological and biomedical subject areas, including traditional areas of biology (such as botany, zoology and microbiology), as well as related fields such as plant & animal science, agriculture, pharmacology and ecology. Interdisciplinary fields such as Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Bioengineering are also included.
AMED is produced by the Health Care Information Service of the British Library an is a unique bibliographic database covering over 400 journals in complementary ("alternative") medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, podiatry; palliative care; and other professions allied to medicine.
ERIC is a national education database produced by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). ERIC is the world’s largest source of education information, containing over a million abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice. You can access the ERIC database via the Internet through World Wide Web, or via commercial vendors and public networks. The database is updated monthly.
Produced by Bell & Howell Information & Learning, Dissertation Abstracts includes over 1,600,000 citations and abstracts of dissertations and masters theses in all fields produced in North American colleges and universities from 1861 to the present, and from around the world since 1988. Subjects covered include literature, education, chemistry, engineering, psychology, business, economics, biology, history, philosophy, sociology, and information science.
Produced by Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts is the premier online resource for researchers, professionals and students in sociology and related disciplines. Currently Sociological Abstracts covers over 2,0000 journals and provides access to over 530,000 records and 320,000 abstracts. Subjects covered include activism and action research, case work, community organization, demographics, family studies, feminist studies, gerontology, media, policy sciences, political science, social security programs, sociology.
Produced by the Behavioral Measurement Database Services, Health and Psychosocial Instruments provides ready access to information on measurement instruments (i.e., questionnaires, interview schedules, checklists, index measures, coding schemes/ manuals, rating scales, projective techniques, vignettes/scenarios, tests) in the health fields, psychosocial sciences, organizational behavior, and library and information science.
Produced by the Buros Institute, Mental Measurements Yearbook contains full text information and reviews of all English-language standardized tests covering educational skills, personality, vocational aptitude, psychology, and related areas.
Version 2 - 9/04