Library Guides: Clinical Pharmacology Subject Guide: Databases

What is a database?

Databases let you search for journal articles from a large number of different journals at the same time around a certain discipline or subject. Searching databases can save you time finding high-quality literature for assignments, dissertations and research projects.

Learn how to search databases with our literature searching guide, or look at our YouTube channel to find out how to search specific databases.

If you are conducting a systematic review, see our systematic review guide for guidance.

Bibliographic databases

Medline (Ovid) - onsite access Onsite access from St George's PCs and library laptops
From US National Library of Medicine. Covers clinical medicine, including the allied health fields. Includes biological and physical sciences and humanities where they relate to health care.
PubMed - St George's students and staff Freely available online
PubMed is a free version of Medline, published by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM). Click on the link above to access a customised version of PubMed displaying links for full text access via St George's Library.
Embase (Ovid) - onsite access Onsite access from St George's PCs and library laptops
Produced by Elsevier. High quality database for research across medicine and health sciences which is updated daily and recommended for systematic reviews. Covers biomedicine and pharmacology; particularly strong in the areas of drugs, toxicology and psychiatry.
Web of Science - onsite access Onsite access from St George's PCs and library laptops
The Web of Science gives access to the Web of Science Core Collection (including Citation Reference Searching) Conference Proceedings and Journal Citation Reports (Science and Social Science).
Web of Science is part of the Clarivate Analytics group of products which includes Essential Science Indicators and Journal Citation Reports.
Cochrane Library
Collection of databases covering controlled trials, systematic reviews, review protocols and more. Includes: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, NHS EED (NHS Economic Evaluation Database) and HTA (Health Technology Assessments).

Video Tutorials

Many of our databases use the Ovid platform. The below series of short videos will show you how to apply advanced search techniques in Ovid, which will help you to improve your result set.