Scientific literature

Important medical journals (general topics):

Bibliographic databases:

U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM - MedLine)

MEDLINE^® (Medical Literature, Analysis, and Retrieval System Online) is the U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database that contains over 11 million references to journal articles in life sciences with a concentration on biomedicine. Citations go back to 1966 and over 400,000 new references are added each year.

Via PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's search service, it is possible to search the abstracts and references in the MedLine database (free of charge!). [>]

Note: Boolean operators must be written in capitals (AND, OR, NOT)

Cochrane Review Abstracts

The Cochrane Library contains a free accessible database with the abstracts of the Cochrane reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). These reviews are prepared and maintained by the different Cochrane Review Groups of the Cochrane Collaboration and aim to help people make well-informed decisions about healthcare. Full reviews are available on CD-ROM or via Internet access, but have to be paid for. [>]

University of York NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination

The NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination provides important information on the effectiveness of treatments and the delivery and organisation of healthcare by offering rigorous and systematic reviews on selected topics. The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) contains abstracts of high quality systematic research reviews of the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. The NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) contains abstracts of economic evaluations of healthcare interventions. The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Database contains abstracts produced by INAHTA and other healthcare technology agencies. All these abstracts can be consulted free of charge. Contact information for further information on the full review is given. [>]