Systematic Reviews and Searching the Literature
Resources and tips when preparing a systematic review or other reports that require a thorough search of the literature. Updated Aug 19, 2020.
Essential Databases for Clinical Studies
- PubMed or Ovid Medline. Health sciences database.
- Embase. Health sciences database that complements and also overlaps with PubMed.
- Cochrane Library. Includes CENTRAL (Central Register of Controlled Trials), the largest database of controlled trials, as well as Cochrane systematic reviews.
Databases of Published Works
- Clinical studies
- PubMed or Ovid Medline. Health sciences database
- Embase. Health sciences database that complements and overlaps with PubMed.
- Cochrane Library. Includes CENTRAL (Central Register of Controlled Trials), the largest database of controlled trials, and the Database of Systematic Reviews.
- CINAHL. Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature.
- PEDro. Physiotherapy Evidence Database
- AMED. Alternative medicine and allied health.
- Clinical trials registries of ongoing trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov. A registry of clinical research studies to provide information about upcoming studies, studies in progress, and past studies to researchers, clinicians, and the public. Includes U.S., international, and industry-based trials.
- WHO ICTRP. The International Clinical Trials Registry Platform of the World Health Organization. This portal brings together multiple registry databases.
- Systematic reviews and practice guidelines
- Cochrane Library. For access to the Cochrane Database of systematic Reviews (CDSR) and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL).
- Epistemonikos. A database including systematic reviews and primary clinical studies.
- JBI EBP Database. Includes systematic reviews, evidence summaries, recommended practices and other publications.
- ECRI Guidelines Trust. A repository of current clinical practice guidelines.
- Biomedical
- PubMed or Ovid Medline. Health sciences database.
- Embase. Health sciences database with a European perspective but overlaps with PubMed. Good for drug information.
- Nursing
- CINAHL. Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature.
- PubMed or Ovid Medline Health sciences database
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI). Instruments, tools, surveys.
- JBI EBP Database. Includes systematic reviews, evidence summaries, recommended practices and other publications.
- Mental health
- PsycINFO. Mental and behavioral health database
- PubMed or Ovid Medline Health sciences database
- Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) Database with articles about instruments, tools, surveys
- Health services research
- PubMed or Ovid Medline. Health sciences database
- Embase. Health sciences database with a slightly European perspective but overlaps with PubMed. Especially strong for drug information
- Web of Science. A comprehensive multidisciplinary database that also allows citation tracking.
- Health sciences education
- ERIC. Education Resources Information Center
- PubMed or Ovid Medline. Health sciences database
- Physical and social sciences
- Web of Science. A comprehensive multidisciplinary database that also allows citation tracking.
- IEEE Explore. Electrical and computer engineering database.
Grey Literature
- Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov . large clinical trial registry for mainly U.S. trials but include many international and industry-based trials.
- International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP) from the WHO. A clinical trial portal that brings together multiple registry databases. Note the registries that it includes may be more effectively searched from their individual portals.
- GSK Clinical Trial Registry Glaxo Smith Kline trials
- Health Technology Assessments
- International HTA Database. Database of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA).
- FDA Medical Devices
- Medical Device Active Licensing List (MDALL). Health Canada
- Embase. Includes an indexed field (df) for medical devices
- Guidelines
- Grey literature databases
- Grey Matters. A free online tool from CADTH for finding health-related grey literature that are not published commercially.
- Dissertation and Theses
- Dissertation and Theses from Proquest. Full dissertations may need to be purchases.
- NDLTD (The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations) a portal with access to dissertation databases from many institutions and organizations, some with links to full text.
- Worldcat global library catalogue including dissertations
- Conference Abstracts
- Embase. Health sciences database that complements PubMed. Includes conference abstracts.
- Web of Science. A comprehensive multidisciplinary database that also allows citation tracking.
- Google Scholar
- PrePrints (pre-peer-review)
- medRxiv and bioRxiv. Preprints in the health and biomedical sciences
- OSF Preprints. An Open Science Framework portal to preprints in multiple disciplines.
- SSRN. Preprints in the social sciences from the Social Science Research Network.