Databases

Searching Guides

e-Learning - Literature Searching
A short course from e-Learning for Healthcare covering searching principles and techniques.
Library guide to literature searching
Tips and tools to help you navigate databases and find what you need.
Critical Appraisal Resources
Useful information on critically appraising literature.

If you would like 1:1 or group training on using databases or critically appraising literature please contact us

Search support

Our staff are skilled in carrying out literature searches in support of research and patient care. We can help to save you time and ensure you find the high-quality information you need.

To request a Literature search please contact us or fill in the online request form

You have access to the following databases either via your OpenAthens account or freely online.

Key Cancer Databases

EMBASE (Ovid) 1974 to present
Embase (Excerpta Medica Database) is a biomedical and pharmacological database containing more than 30 million records including articles from more than 8,500 journals. It is especially strong in its coverage of drug and pharmaceutical research, pharmacology and toxicology.
Access: NHS OpenAthens account
MEDLINE® (Ovid)
Ovid MEDLINE® covers the international literature on biomedicine, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Information is indexed from approximately 5,600 journals published world-wide.
Coverage: 1946 - present
Access: NHS OpenAthens account
Pubmed
PubMed comprises over 25 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed citations and abstracts include the fields of biomedicine and health. PubMed also links to the other NCBI molecular biology resources. PubMed is developed and maintained by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).
Access Free
CINAHL Ultimate
CINAHL Ultimate is the new definitive resource for nursing and allied health research, providing full text for more of the most used journals in the CINAHL index than any other database. It covers more than 50 nursing specialties and includes quick lessons, evidence-based care sheets, CEU modules and research instruments. CINAHL Ultimate includes rigorous curation and indexing of open access (OA) journals, which has resulted in a growing collection of 1,253 active global OA journals. Once validated and certified for inclusion, these OA journals are treated with high-quality subject indexing and sophisticated, precise/accurate full-text linking. Note: Includes full text access to the Nursing Times.
Access: NHS OpenAthens account for eligible users
Subjects Covered:
Ambulatory care nursing
Cardiovascular nursing
Critical care nursing
Emergency medical technicians
Gerontologic nursing
Nuclear medicine technicians
Occupational therapy
Oncologic nursing
Pediatric nursing
Physical therapy
Psychiatric nursing

Other Recommended Databases

AMED This link opens in a new window
The Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) is a bibliographic database covering a selection of journals in complementary medicine, palliative care, and several professions allied to medicine.
Coverage: 1985 to present
Access: NHS OpenAthens account
Lexicomp This link opens in a new window
Lexi-Comp ONLINE provides point-of-care clinical information for the healthcare industry. Primarily focused on Pharmacotherapy, our knowledge areas include drug information, interactions, laboratory tests/diagnostic procedures, diagnostic medicine. App available to Barts users, please visit the trust intranet for download instructions and authorisation code.
Access: NHS OpenAthens account
APA PsycInfo® This link opens in a new window
This database is published by the American Psychological Associations and provides comprehensive indexing and abstracts of the international psychological literature from the 1800s to the present. Documents indexed include journals, articles, books, dissertations and more. 90% of the 3,000+ titles indexed in APA PsycINFO® are peer-reviewed.
Coverage: 1806-Current
Access: NHS OpenAthens account for eligible users

Databases Specific for Cancer

CancerData
The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) collects, quality assures and analyses data on all people living in England who are diagnosed with cancer. It is part of the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) in NHS Digital (NHSD). All cases of cancer diagnosed and treated in the NHS in England are registered by NCRAS.
CanSAR
canSAR, put together by the Institute of Cancer Research, is an integrated knowledge-base that brings together multidisciplinary data across biology, chemistry, pharmacology, structural biology, cellular networks and clinical annotations, and applies machine learning approaches to provide drug-discovery useful predictions.
National Cancer Institute Resources for Researchers
Resources for Researchers is a directory of NCI-supported tools and services for cancer researchers.