LibGuides: Health Sciences Literature Reviews: Databases & Gray Literature

Academic Research Databases

Listed below are a few commonly used academic research databases for systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses in the health sciences. A rule of thumb is to incorporate at least 3 academic research databases in your search strategy.

PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new window
PubMed is the freely available interface for MEDLINE, the largest biomedical literature database in the world. PubMed offers millions of citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, full text from PubMed Central, and online books, from the 1800s-present. Use the Brown University link to access full text subscriptions through the University library.
CINAHL This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to scholarly literature on nursing, alternative medicine, consumer health, and other allied health subject areas, 1981-present
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), a highly concentrated source of reports of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials; and Cochrane Clinical Answers, which are readable, digestible, clinically focused entry points to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews.
Embase This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to biomedical research, with in-depth coverage of pharmacology, pharmaceutical science, and clinical research, 1947-present.
Global Health This link opens in a new window
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Provides information on international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety and hygiene, and other subject areas, 1973-present
APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
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Provides abstracts and citations of behavioral and social science research from the American Psychological Association (APA), 1887-present
Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Scopus is a source-neutral abstract and citation database curated by independent subject matter experts who are recognized leaders in their fields. Use it to find authoritative research, identify experts, and access reliable data, metrics, and analytical tools for a variety of disciplines.
Web Of Science This link opens in a new window
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Provides access to scientific, social science, and humanities research; along with forward and backward citation searching capabilities, 1900-present

Academic Research Databases
See the Brown Library A-Z Database list for databases covering areas such as sociology, urban studies, gender studies, and more.

Gray Literature Sources

Gray literature includes theses, dissertations, conference proceedings, government reports, clinical trials, preprints, and other information that is not controlled by commercial publishers. The inclusion of gray literature in your search can help minimize the effect of Publication Bias, which is the tendency for studies that have statistically significant results to get published in journals and other commercial publications.

Paez A. Gray literature: An important resource in systematic reviews. J Evid Based Med. 2017 Aug;10(3):233-240. doi: 10.1111/jebm.12266. PMID: 28857505

When searching for gray lit, please document 1) search terms used (and what fields/boxes you searched), 2) date run, 3) how many results were retrieved, and 4) how many results were finally included in the review.

In addition to the Web of Science Core Collection (which includes theses, dissertations, conference proceedings), PubMed (which includes preprints), and Google/Google Scholar, below are a few sources that cover different kinds of gray literature:

ClinicalTrials.gov
Database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world. Maintained by the US National Library of Medicine.
SHARE.osf
The SHARE infrastructure was developed by the Association of Research Libraries in partnership with the Center for Open Science. SHARE is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Searches multiple preprint registries.
Mednar
Mednar is a free, medically-focused deep web search engine. As an alternative to Google, Mednar accelerates your research with a search of authoritative public and deep web resources, returning the most relevant results to one easily navigable page. Unlike Google, a Mednar search occurs in real-time.
Federal Government Information on the Web - Library Resource Guide
Listing of multiple freely-available online sources to search for government reports, data, and other gray literature from the federal government.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new window
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A global collection of dissertations and theses, 1637-present.
1637-present; ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. PQDT Global includes more than 2.5 million dissertation and theses citations from around the world from 1861 (with a few older) to the-present day together with over one million full text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. The database offers full text for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350 word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150 word abstracts. Bibliographic citations are available for dissertations dating from 1637. Where available, PQDT Global provides 24-page previews of dissertations and theses. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text also offers researchers unlimited access to digital copies from their own institutions as well as affordable copies from others.

PubMed searching tips

Searching PubMed - Library Resource Guide
Brown University Library resource guide on searching PubMed, complete with short video clips.

EMBASE searching tips

Ask a Librarian
Quick Reference Guide
From EMBASE - PDF file
Embase Help Online
Online help from Embase. Includes information on adjacency searching, other operators, etc.