Library guides: Healthcare & Biomedical Education: Databases

What is a database?

Academic databases are searchable collections of academic literature. They provide access to a wide range of scholarly content including journal articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and technical reports.

Learn how to search databases with our literature searching guide, or look at our YouTube channel.

If you are conducting a systematic review, see our systematic review guide for guidance.

Key databases

Medline on Ovid

Medline database on the Ovid search platform. From US National Library of Medicine. Covers clinical medicine, including the allied health fields. Includes biological and physical sciences and humanities where they relate to health care.
Embase
Produced by Elsevier. High quality database for research across medicine and health sciences which is updated daily and recommended for systematic reviews. Covers biomedicine and pharmacology; particularly strong in the areas of drugs, toxicology and psychiatry.
PubMed
PubMed is a free version of Medline, published by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM). Click on the link above to access a customised version of PubMed displaying links for full text access via St George's Library.
APA PsycINFO

Access to international literature in psychology, behavioural science and social sciences from the 1880s to present.
Web of Science

Web of Science gives access to the Web of Science Core Collection (including Citation Reference Searching) Conference Proceedings and Journal Citation Reports (Science and Social Science).
Web of Science is part of the Clarivate group of products which includes Essential Science Indicators and Journal Citation Reports.

Watch 'how to' videos

Tip: Watch our 'how to' videos to learn how to search databases effectively.