LibGuides@Southampton: Medicine: Key resources

Bibliographic databases

Looking for research papers?

MEDLINE (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
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MEDLINE is the world's best-known medicine and clinical science database, covering literature from around the world since 1946. It has a comprehensive set of controlled vocabulary called Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms). MEDLINE is also available free on the web as PubMed.
MEDLINE is available on a number of different platforms - we recommend the Ovid version for students and staff in the Faculty of Medicine (since EMBASE is also hosted on Ovid). If you prefer to search PubMed, we suggest you use our links to it, as this will ensure your results point to the full text of our journals in addition to free articles.
EMBASE This link opens in a new window
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EMBASE is a leading clinical medicine and biomedical database, with particular strengths in drugs, toxicology, biotechnology, health affairs and forensic medicine. EMBASE includes all MEDLINE records, plus several million of its own - giving it rather better coverage of the literature in topics such as pharmaceuticals and of the European literature in general.
CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window
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Providing 1,815 active full-text journals, that cover over 50 nursing specialties, CINAHL Ultimate also includes instructional videos to help nursing students and nurses learn about specific techniques and enhance their knowledge of procedures and best practices for care.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
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The key database for psychology and related subjects. Contains references and abstracts for scholarly journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertations, some dating back to the 1600s. The full-text is available for some journal articles. Where there is no full-text link, click on the Full Text Finder link to check for full-text.
Provided by the American Psychological Association’s (APA). The largest database of peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. Covers related subjects including medicine, law, neuroscience, business, human resource management, nursing, forensics, criminology, engineering, sociology and gerontology. Includes about 2500 journals, in many languages, from 1800s to present (including all articles from PsycARTICLES).
Allied and Complementary Medicine Database This link opens in a new window
Allied and Complementary Medicine Database is a unique bibliographic database produced by the Health Care Information Service of the British Library. It covers a selection of journals in complementary medicine, palliative care and several professions allied to medicine including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, podiatry and rehabilitation.
MEDLINE (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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MEDLINE is the world's best-known medicine and clinical science database, covering literature from around the world since 1946. It has a comprehensive set of controlled vocabulary called Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms). MEDLINE is also available free on the web as PubMed.
The database contains more than 21.6 million records from 5,582 selected publications covering biomedicine and health from 1950 to the present. 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 provides information from the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, as well as 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.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
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PubMed is a free version of MEDLINE, the world's best-known medicine and clinical science database. MEDLINE covers literature from around the world since 1946, and it has a comprehensive set of controlled vocabulary called Medical Subject Headings (MeSH terms).
Although we recommend that you search MEDLINE on the Ovid or EBSCO platforms, if you do prefer to use PubMed then we suggest that you use our links to it: this will ensure your results point to the full text of our journals in addition to free articles.
Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new window
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Provides references, and in many cases abstracts, for peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles in the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. Includes the Science Citation Index Expanded (1970-present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1970-present) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present). Also provides citation data and references to books and conference papers. Click on the Full Text Finder links to check for full-text.
Our access to WOS now includes the 'Emerging Sources Citations Index: 2005-present'. Journals included in ESCI cover all disciplines and range from international and broad scope publications to those that provide deeper regional or speciality area coverage.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivering a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, Scopus features smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
BIOSIS Previews This link opens in a new window
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The world's leading database for the life sciences, covering subjects such as botany, zoology, microbiology, as well as agriculture, pharmacology, bio-physics, ecology, bio-engineering and experimental clinical medicine. Dates back to 1956 and covers not just journal articles, but also proceedings of meetings, conferences, reports, chapters in textbooks and other related resources.
IBSS - International Bibliography of The Social Sciences This link opens in a new window
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Provides references and, in many cases, abstracts for journal articles, books and book chapters in the social sciences, from 1951 to current.
IBSS has particular strengths in politics, economics, sociology and anthropology. Click on the TDNet links to check for full-text. No password on campus. Off campus VPN or Institutional login.
Public Health Database This link opens in a new window
Search the core literature in the field of public health.

Evidence-based medicine

Looking for systematic reviews, clinical trials?

ClinicalTrials.gov (US) This link opens in a new window
Registry and results database of human clinical trials, covering research from nearly 200 countries (about half the studies are US, half non-US)
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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The Cochrane Library is the home of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care. It also contains a register of controlled trials, Cochrane Clinical Answers, and Special Collections - curated content collections on specific healthcare topics.
NIHR Evidence This link opens in a new window
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded through the Department of Health and Social Care to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. They critically appraise the latest health research from both within the NIHR and other research organisations to identify the most reliable, relevant and significant findings. They disseminate these findings as actionable, accessible, and trustworthy information in the form of Alerts, Collections, blogs, podcasts and infographics.
NIHR Journals Library This link opens in a new window
The NIHR Journals Library comprises a suite of five open access journals providing an important and permanent archive of research funded by the National Institute for Health Research
PROSPERO: International prospective register of systematic reviews This link opens in a new window
Prospero is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record.
PROSPERO aims to provide a comprehensive listing of systematic reviews registered at inception to help avoid duplication and reduce opportunity for reporting bias by enabling comparison completed review with what was planned in the protocol.
TRIP This link opens in a new window
Trip is a clinical search engine designed to allow users to quickly and easily find and use high-quality research evidence to support their practice and/or care.

Trip has been online since 1997 and in that time has developed into the internet’s premier source of evidence-based content.

ISRCTN Registry
The ISRCTN registry is a 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.
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ISRCTN supports transparency in clinical research, helps reduce selective reporting of results and ensures an unbiased and complete evidence base.
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) search portal
The Clinical Trials Search Portal provides access to a central database containing the trial registration data sets provided by the registries listed. It also provides links to the full original records.

Further resources

BMJ Best Practice This link opens in a new window
BMJ Best Practice is a "point of care information tool" - giving you access to curated, evidence-based information wherever and whenever you need it. It is Up to Date in its purpose, with both a web and mobile app version.
Requires a Open Athens account.
British National Formulary This link opens in a new window
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Key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines.
To access the database, click login through OpenAthens / Shibboleth (in top right-hand corner) and search for 'University of Southampton'.
PDF User Guide
British National Formulary Children This link opens in a new window
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Key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines.
To access the database, click login through OpenAthens / Shibboleth (in top right-hand corner) and search for 'University of Southampton'.
PDF User Guide
Clinical Knowledge Summaries This link opens in a new window
Providing primary care practitioners with a readily accessible summary of the current evidence base and practical advice on best practice
Includes over 370 topics organised alphabetically, with focus on the most common and significant presentations in primary care.
Knowledge and Library Hub This link opens in a new window
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The NHS Knowledge and Library Hub connects NHS staff and learners to high quality knowledge and evidence resources in one place.
Full access is free to all NHS staff and learners using your NHS OpenAthens account.
Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
The world's most comprehensive collection of full-text dissertations and theses.
Click 'login' for on campus access. For access off campus, click 'login', enter 'University of Southampton' in the institutional field followed by your institutional username and password.
Visible Body Human Anatomy Atlas This link opens in a new window
3D human anatomy multimedia modules covering anatomy, physiology, muscles, the skeleton, and the circulatory system.

Health Statistics Resources

ASH Statistics This link opens in a new window
Resources, fact sheets, briefings and research reports from Action on Smoking and Health. Includes information and statistics on tobacco-related topics, and supporting evidence for tobacco control measures.
Child Info This link opens in a new window
Statistical information from UNICEF. UNICEF is the world’s leading source of data on children used by over 3 million people globally.
British Paediatric Surveillance Unit This link opens in a new window
The BPSU is a world leading centre for rare paediatric disease surveillance. It enables doctors and researchers to investigate how many children in the UK and Republic of Ireland are affected by particular rare diseases, conditions or treatments each year.
Clinical Practice Research Datalink This link opens in a new window
The Clinical Practice Research Datalink is the new English NHS observational data and interventional research service, jointly funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Demographic and Health Surveys This link opens in a new window
The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program has collected, analyzed, and disseminated accurate and representative data on population, health, HIV, and nutrition through more than 400 surveys in over 90 countries.

European Health Information Gateway
WHO Europe’s Health for All family of databases are the Region’s gold-standard source of health statistics for monitoring and assessment tools in key health policy areas. Discover the wealth of information in the “Health for All explorer”, a brand new tool that allows integrated access to these indicators, enables dynamic comparisons and exploration, and makes the data reusable and shareable as graphics, datasets, embeddable parts of web pages and social media messages.

Health & Safety Executive: Statistics This link opens in a new window
Key health & safety statistics from around the UK

Hospital Episode Statistics
HES is a data warehouse containing details of all admissions, outpatient appointments and A&E attendances at NHS hospitals in England.

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority This link opens in a new window
The HFEA collects data and statistics about over 60,000 fertility treatments performed each year in the UK

Health Statistics Resources

OECD Health Statistics This link opens in a new window
Statistics from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
ONS Health and Social Care Statistics This link opens in a new window
Health statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
National Centre for Health Statistics This link opens in a new window
The National Center for Health Statistics is part of the US Center for Disease Control, and its stated aim "is to provide statistical information that will guide actions and policies to improve the health of the American people"
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive This link opens in a new window
SAMHDA is an initiative funded under contract with the Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (CBHSQ), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CBHSQ has primary responsibility for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of SAMHSA's behavioral health data
UNAIDS This link opens in a new window
UNAIDS brings together the resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and 10 UN system organizations for coordinated and accountable efforts to unite the world against AIDS
WorldPop This link opens in a new window
WorldPop develops peer-reviewed research and methods for the construction of open and high-resolution geospatial data on population distributions, demographics and dynamics, with a focus on low and middle income countries.