About Core Health Sciences Databases

Drug Databases Clinical Database About Databases FAQ

Bibliographic Databases

PubMed Covers medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and preclinical sciences. Provides citations and author abstracts for over 4800 journals.
Links to UNC-CH electronic journals.
1951 to present; Updated daily
Alternative Medicine:
Alt-Health Watch and AMED
Covers complementary and alternative medicine. Provides citations and abstracts of journals, reports, newsletters, and pamphlets.
Some full-text
1985 to present
BIOSIS Covers biology, medicine, pharmacology, biochemistry, and biotechnology. Provides citations and abstracts for over 5500 journals along with citations to conferences, meetings, books, book chapters, patents.
1969 to present; Updated weekly
CINAHL Covers nursing and allied health. Provides citations and abstracts for over 1700 journals along with citations to books, dissertations, conferences, software, audiovisuals, book chapters.
Some full-text.
1982 to present
IPA:
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts
Covers drug therapy and pharmaceutical information. Provides citations and abstracts for over 750 journals.
1970 to present
ISI Citation Indexes Covers medicine, science, social sciences, and humanities. Provides citations to over 9000 journals.
Includes cited and citing references.
1980 to present; Updated weekly
PsycINFO Covers psychology and psychological aspects of medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, and pharmacology. Provides citations and abstracts to over 1300 journal articles along with citations to book chapters, books, technical reports, dissertations.
1887 to present; Updated monthly
SPORTDiscus Covers sport, fitness, exercise and related disciplines. Provides citations to journals, books, book chapters, conference proceedings
1800 to present

Drug Databases

eFacts Drug monographs; natural products; nonprescription drugs; drug interactions; herbal interactions; chemotherapy manual; off-label facts; patient info; manufacturers index; drug identifier.
Lexi-Comp Online Drug monographs; pediatric drugs; geriatric drugs; natural products; pharmacogenomics; infectious diseases; poisoning and toxicology; laboratory tests; diagnostic procedures.
Micromedex Drug monographs from USP DI, PDR, Martindale, DRUGDEX; toxicology; drug interactions; dosing tools; alternative medicine leaflets; patient care notes. (MobileMICROMEDEX for PDA)
Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database 1000 plus evidence-based monographs on natural medicines provide common names, alternate names; scientific names; common usage; safety; effectiveness; mechanism of action; adverse reactions; interactions; drug influences; dosage and administration; comments; references; and brand name list.

Clinical Database

UpToDate Broad coverage of adult primary care and related specialties provides the equivalent of over 60,000 pages of original, peer-reviewed text through a collection of searchable topic reviews. Integrated with the Lexi-Comp Drug information.

About Databases FAQ

What is a database?

Databases are collections of information stored in structured format so that specific information can be located by searching. Different databases contain different kinds of information. Individual databases often focus on a particular subject or kind of content.

What is the best database to use?

The best database is the one that covers the subject and the kind of information you need. The first step of searching is to clearly define your question. If you are trying to find all of the information on a topic you will usually need to search more than one database.

What is a bibliographic database?

Bibliographic databases provide information about journal articles, books, dissertations, videos, reports, and other information sources. Bibliographic databases do not always contain or link to the complete content of item they describe. The purpose of a bibliographic database is to help you locate information sources on a specific topic.

What is a citation?

A citation describes a particular resource. It can describe a particular book, book chapter, journal, journal article, dissertation, meeting abstract, or many other kinds of resources. The purpose of the citation is to give you enough information to help you decide if you want to find the item itself.

If the database only gives a citation how do I find the full content that I want?

Take the citation information you found and search another database!
Search for Electronic Journal Titles owned by UNC-Chapel Hill.
Search the Catalog for Print Journals, Books, Videos, and Dissertations owned by UNC-Chapel.

IRIS Interlibrary Loan service can find items the library does not own and get them for you for $5.

How can I improve my database searching skills?

  1. One-on one instruction can be scheduled with a librarian.
  2. Review tip sheets for two of the most frequently used health sciences databases: