Databases
How to Choose a Database
In deciding which database(s) to use, it is helpful to note:
- Who: Who is authoring these publications? Are these scholarly, popular, or industry sources?
- What: What can I find in the database? (e.g. articles, conference proceedings, data)
- When: When does coverage begin? How well is historical literature covered? Does it include articles published in the last year?
- Where: What is the geographical scope of the coverage? Does that match your research interest?
NOTE: Your database comparison table distributed in the class (and also to be available from your Canvas class site) helps with locating the above criteria for four of the key databases for finding nutrition-related literature: PubMed, CAB Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews & Global Health.
Recommended Subject Databases:
Key Nutrition Literature Databases
- PubMed for UC Davis This link opens in a new windowPubMed for UC Davis offers users vastly more full-text articles than does the public version of Pubmed.gov. Search results in the UCD version display "Get it at UC" buttons providing (with on-campus or VPN connection) access to articles in journals licensed by UC Davis or enabling patrons to request articles that are not immediately available online. PubMed comprises over 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health, covering portions of the life sciences, behavioral sciences, chemical sciences, and bioengineering. PubMed also provides access to additional relevant web sites and links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources. PubMed is a free resource that is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), located at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
[Coverage: 1902-present] - CAB Abstracts (Ovid) This link opens in a new window
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Provides citations and abstracts to the international agricultural literature, including veterinary medicine, human and animal nutrition, forestry, rural development, as well as other related topics such as tourism and human ecology. Covers over 11,000 journals and conference proceedings and selected books in agriculture. Produced by CAB (Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux) International (CABI) with more than 10 million records. HISTORICAL SCOPE: Archive abstracts added in August 2005 go back to 1910 with 1,860,000 additional records. CAB DATABASE PDFs: As of January 2009, hard-to-find literature may be available as CAB Database PDFs (so noted below the UC-eLinks button). These CABI Full Text items give users automatic access to over 350,000 journal articles, conference papers and reports 80 percent of which are not available electronically anywhere else. NOTE: the default UCD Search Type is set to Advanced Ovid Search.
[Coverage: 1910-present] - BIOSIS Previews This link opens in a new windowBIOSIS Previews is a database for researching the biological sciences literature. Designed by biologists for keeping up with the literature across pure and applied life sciences including agriculture and medicine. Excellent features for searching by taxonomic categories and broad concept codes (subject categories). More than 27 million records in all life science areas, including agriculture, biochemistry, biomedicine, biotechnology, ecology, environmental biology, genetics, microbiology, plant biology, veterinary medicine & pharmacology, and zoology. Indexes over 6,000 journals, serials, books and book chapters, conference proceedings and patents.
[Coverage: 1926-present] - Global Health This link opens in a new windowGlobal Health is a specialist bibliographic abstracting and indexing database dedicated to public health, completing the picture of international medical and health research by capturing key literature that is not covered by other databases. Derived from over 7,000 journals, reports, books and conferences, Global Health contains over 3 million scientific records from 1973 to the present. Almost 155,000 records were added last year, and over 96% of these records include an English abstract. Publications from over 100 countries in 50 languages are abstracted, and all relevant non-English-language papers are translated to give access to research not available through any other database. The database's open serials policy and coverage of international and grey literature means that 40% of material contained in Global Health is unique to the database. Everything from proceedings, theses, electronic-only publications and other hard-to-find sources are included. Global Health has a growing number of full text articles (over 90,000) from journals, conferences, and reports.
[Coverage: 1973-present]
Consumer Health Literature
- MEDLINEplus This link opens in a new windowFull-text reputable consumer health information compiled by the National Library of Medicine from authenticated sources including the various U.S. Government agencies involved with health care. Many free and reliable full-text sources are incorporated including drug information, dictionaries and directories.
Dietician Literature
- CINAHL Complete: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature This link opens in a new windowCINAHL is an acronym for the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. It provides comprehensive coverage of the English language nursing literature. CINAHL Complete (the version of CINAHL to which the Library subscribes) indexes over 5,000 journals on nursing, biomedical, allied health and consumer health literature. Also includes continuing education modules, evidence-based care sheets, lessons providing overviews of disease and conditions, and research instruments.
[Coverage: 1937-present]
Policy and Regulations
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new windowIndexes all types of materials in the area of public affairs and public policy - journal articles, books and book chapters, reports, government documents. Topics include agriculture, banking, demographics, education, environment, finance, government, health, law, legislation, political science, social sciences, and statistics.
[Coverage: 1914-present] - ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
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Provides detailed indexing from 1789 forwards for publications of Congress: documents, reports, hearings. Modules include: Proquest Congressional digital U.S. Congressional hearings collection from 1824-1979; and Digital U.S. Bills and Resolutions from 1789-present. Full text for congressional committee documents and reports is included from 1990 to current. Selected hearing testimony and transcripts are available from 1988. Congressional Research Service Reports module included from 2004-2010. For full text historical serial set (committee documents & reports) from 1817-1980 see U.S. Congressional Serial Set by Readex. Formerly titled LexisNexis Congressional.
[Coverage: dates vary] - Nexis Uni (Formerly LexisNexis) This link opens in a new windowOne of the largest web-based full-text databases for current news, business and legal information, supporting a broad range of interdisciplinary research, Nexis Uni (known until December 2017 as LexisNexis Academic) provides full-text access to nearly 6,000 individual titles. Includes a wide range of U.S. and foreign newspapers, plus transcripts of television and radio news programs. Business resources include business articles, accounting literature, company financial information. Legal resources include state and federal laws and regulations, a full range of case law, and law review articles.
Sports Nutrition
- SPORTDiscus This link opens in a new windowSPORTDiscus is the world's leading database in sport, health, fitness and sports medicine. SportDiscus has over 1.7 million qualified references from thousands of international periodicals, books, e-journals, conference proceedings, theses, dissertations, and websites that focus on different areas involving sport, including: sport sciences, engineering, psychology, administration, sociology, history, coaching, training, physical education, physical fitness, health and recreation.
[Coverage: 1800-present]
How to Access the Full Text of an Article
"Get it at UC" Button
Most databases provide a description of articles and other resources to help you find what you need by searching through the indexed literature within their website. Included as part of the item record is the “Get it at UC” button. Clicking this button will direct you to a copy of the full text of the article.
Interlibrary Loan Request
If we do not own a journal or book, you can submit an interlibrary loan (ILL) request to have the book or article (e)mailed to you for free from another UC library. Learn more about how to request books or articles.
Identify Peer-Reviewed Articles
A peer-reviewed source is an article that has been reviewed by several other experts in the field before being published in order to ensure its quality. This 2 minute video describes the peer review process.
How do I Know if an Article is Peer-Reviewed?
Look for limits/filters
Many databases allow you to specify that you want to search only in “peer-reviewed” or “refereed” sources.
Visit the journal’s webpage
Search online for your journal’s title. Sections like “about this journal” or “editorial policies” generally mention whether the journal is peer-reviewed/refereed.
Check a directory
Use the Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory to find key information about a journal, including whether it has a peer-review process.