Finding Primary Studies
The following databases provide access to primary studies in the health sciences. The list is ordered alphabetically, by title; however, the "best" database will vary based on the type of question that is being addressed.
- APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
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Provides comprehensive indexing and abstracts of the international psychological literature. - CINAHL Complete: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature This link opens in a new windowCINAHL is a subject index that provides comprehensive coverage of the English language nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and consumer health literature.
- Embase This link opens in a new window
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Embase is a biomedical and pharmacological subject index of peer-reviewed journal articles and conference materials. It includes MEDLINE records plus additional coverage of international journals. Offers deep biomedical indexing and search tools to assist in building search strategies.
TIPS:
Depending on your topic, try PICO, drug, or device search.
Narrow search results using filters in the left column. - Ovid MEDLINE This link opens in a new window
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Ovid MEDLINE provides an alternative to the PubMed interface with additional search options for querying the MEDLINE subject index. - PubMed for UC Davis This link opens in a new windowWith PubMed for UC Davis, search results display "Get it at UC" buttons to navigate to full-text articles licensed by UC Davis or request articles that are not immediately available online. PubMed is a subject index from the National Library of Medicine which includes over 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and e-books.
TIPS:
Use PubMed Clinical Queries to employ validated search filters based on the question type.
Although PubMed is freely available, off-campus access to many full-text articles requires UCDH or Library VPN. - Scopus This link opens in a new window
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Scopus is a large interdisciplinary abstract and citation index for academic journal literature, conference proceedings and books with broad coverage across the sciences and social sciences, includes citation tracking tools. - Web of Science Core Collection This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science is a citation index of peer-reviewed scholarly journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
