LibGuides: Systematic review guide: Health Sciences & Medicine Databases

Databases & Resources

These three key databases are considered to be the most important sources to include in a health sciences for a systematic review of interventions (Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, 2022, Section 4.3.1.1). Other databases should also be considered depending on the review topic.

Medline 1946- (OVID) This link opens in a new window
Journal database covering biomedicine, nursing, life sciences, toxicology, nutrition and other related disciplines from 1946.
Embase (OVID) This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of biomedical and pharmacological journals.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
A collection of seven databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.

Quick search guide for health databases

Here are some other databases to consider, depending on the review topic.

AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database) (OVID) This link opens in a new window
Indexing from 1985 and full text articles covering complementary medicine, palliative care and several professions allied to medicine.
15 concurrent users
CINAHL Ultimate (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Broad content coverage for nursing, midwifery and allied health specialties, speech and language pathology, general health and medicine. CINAHL Ultimate supersedes CINAHL Complete.
Informit Health Collection This link opens in a new window
Australasian health information covering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health; Incidence & prevention of disease; mental illness; nursing; pediatrics & geriatrics; personal health & safety; substance abuse, rural & remote health.
Joanna Briggs Institute This link opens in a new window
Evidence based resource for nursing, midwifery, dietetics, physiotherapy, podiatry, radiography.
Maternity and Infant Care Database (OVID) This link opens in a new window
International journals, books, and grey literature relating to the midwifery profession, pregnancy, labour, birth, postnatal care, infant feeding and neonatal care, infant care and parenthood.
5 concurrent users
Nursing and allied health database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, and more.
PsycINFO (OVID) This link opens in a new window
Behavioral sciences and mental health. Includes related disciplines such as medicine, law, social work, neuroscience, business, nursing, forensics and engineering.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed journals, books and conference proceedings in a wide range of disciplines. Includes author and affiliation searches, citation impact and analytical tools.
Scopus has a limit of 2,000 citation exports.
SPORTDiscus with full text This link opens in a new window
Sports, health, fitness and well-being.
Web of science This link opens in a new window
Indexes high impact journals through ISI's citation indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded - 1956 to present; Social Sciences Citation Index - 1956 to present; Arts and Humanities Citation Index - 1975 to present.

Cochrane Central Register of Clinical Trials (CENTRAL)
Details of published articles taken from bibliographic databases (notably MEDLINE and EMBASE), and other published and unpublished sources. In addition, each Cochrane Review Group maintains and updates a collection of controlled trials relevant to its own area of interest.
ANZCTR - Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry
Primary Registry in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Registry Network. It accepts trials for registration from all countries and from the full spectrum of therapeutic areas including trials of pharmaceuticals, surgical procedures, preventive measures, lifestyle, devices, treatment and rehabilitation strategies and complementary therapies.
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world.
ISRCTN registry
Primary clinical trial registry recognised by WHO and ICMJE that accepts all clinical research studies (whether proposed, ongoing or completed), providing content validation and curation and the unique identification number necessary for publication. All study records in the database are freely accessible and searchable.
CenterWatch
Clinical trial database that contains thousands of currently enrolling trials. Information on drugs and new medical therapies are available to review. CenterWatch also provides patients with health and educational resources about clinical trials and other health information.
NCIC Clinical Trials Group
Cooperative oncology group which carries out clinical trials in cancer therapy, supportive care and prevention across Canada and internationally.
NIHR Clinical Research Network
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
Access to a central database containing the trial registration data sets provided by the registries from Australia, UK, USA, Japan, Korea, Brazil, China, Iran, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Germany, Cuba, India. It also provides links to the full original records.
Cancer Research UK
National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials
EU Clinical Trials Register
The European Union Clinical Trials Register allows you to search for protocol and results information on:
- interventional clinical trials that are conducted in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA);
- clinical trials conducted outside the EU / EEA that are linked to European paediatric-medicine development.
Finding clinical trials, research registers and research results
This resource lists trials and research registers and provides a quick reference guide to the search basics for each resource.

Follow these tips for searching OVID (AMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, Maternity & Infant Care) and CINAHL databases:

Search for one term at a time
Map terms to subject headings
Read the Scope Notes
Look at the Subject Headings Tree
When in doubt, Explode but do not Focus
Use Keywords when necessary
Combine terms with Boolean Operators
Limit/filter results as required.