Evidence Syntheses & Systematic Reviews: Databases & More

Best Practices

This page contains a list of databases and other quality resources to consider including in a Systematic Review (SR) search. Select resources relevant to your research query.

This list is not exhaustive; Miami University Libraries subscribes to over 500 databases, and more. For more information on these databases and others, see Databases A-Z page on Miami University Libraries website.

Databases and More

Alt HealthWatch This link opens in a new window
Alt Healthwatch is a full-text alternative health research database focused on complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. It offers the latest information about the evolving practice of holistic medicine and therapies.
Subjects include: Acupuncture, aromatherapy, body work, childbirth, Chinese medicine, chiropractic, creative therapies, cross-cultural therapies, energy medicine, herbalism, homeopathy, mind-body medicine, naturopathy, nutrition, and osteopathy.

Campbell Systematic Reviews
High quality open access systematic reviews and evidence based literature in the social sciences.

CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
This comprehensive research database provides full-text for nursing and allied health journals indexed in CINAHL Plus. Additional materials include full-text evidence-based care sheets, quick lessons and continuing education modules.
Covers a wide range of topics including nursing, biomedicine, health sciences librarianship, alternative/complementary medicine, consumer health and 17 allied health disciplines.
Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision making. Cochrane Reviews represent the highest level of evidence on which to base clinical treatment decisions.
Education Research Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides resources on all levels of education, including higher education and includes more professional and trade publications than indexed elsewhere.
Education Research Complete provides indexing and abstracts for over 1,500 journals, and full-text for more than 750 of them. Topics covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties, such as multilingual education, health education, and testing. Education Research Complete also covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. It also has the full-text for over 100 monographs and numerous education-related conference papers.
ERIC (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Essential and authoritative database for education research. An index from the US Department of Education that has been around since 1964 ,with some full-text access.
Includes journal articles, books, research syntheses, conference papers, technical reports, policy papers. There is a free version that anyone can use at eric.ed.gov. Use the library version because you will be able to access the full-text of the articles you find more easily. Currently indexes more than 600 journals.

In addition, contributors have given ERIC permission to display more than 115,000 full-text materials in PDF format. These materials are generally part of the recent grey literature such as conference papers and reports, rather than journal articles and books. Older ERIC documents that are not free on the web are available on microfiche, but must be recalled from storage.
PsycINFO (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
PsycInfo is the world's largest resource devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health. Produced by the American Psychological Association (APA), it is an indispensable tool for the discovery of global scholarly research.
Subject include: psychology, speech pathology and audiology, nursing, gerontology, social work, American studies, educational psychology, educational leadership, disability studies.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed is the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) freely accessible interface to the MEDLINE bibliographic database, covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, biomedical engineering, the health care system, and the basic biomedical sciences.
MEDLINE contains bibliographic citations and author abstracts from biomedical journals published in the United States and other countries. The database contains citations dating back to the mid-1950's. Journal articles are indexed for MEDLINE using NLM's subject heading system, MeSH (Medical Subject Headings).
Social Work Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Social Work Abstracts, produced by the National Association of Social Workers, Inc., contains information on the social work field, including theory and practice, areas of service and social issues and problems. Additional topics include: addictions, child and family welfare, civil and legal rights, education, human services, mental health, therapy. 8 simultaneous users.
SPORTDiscus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
SPORTDiscus with full-text is the definitive database for sports and sports medicine research. Providing hundreds of full-text sports medicine journals, it is an essential tool for health professionals and researchers studying fitness, health and sports.
Subjects include: clinical specialties, coaching and education, consumer health, exercise science and fitness, health education, kinesiology, nutrition, occupational health and safety, physical education, physical therapy, and sports sciences.
Web of Science (All Databases) This link opens in a new window
Searches high impact research journals in the sciences and social sciences. Useful for those researching in decision sciences and brain & cognitive sciences. Terrific resource for seeing/finding cited references & newer articles that have cited the source article.

Reference Books and Guidelines

DSM-5-TR(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) This link opens in a new window
DSM-5-TR is used by health professionals, social workers, and forensic and legal specialists to diagnose and classify mental disorders.
Intended to facilitate an objective assessment of symptom presentations in a variety of clinical settings- inpatient, outpatient, partial hospital, consultation-liaison, clinical, private practice, and primary care. Provides access to DSM-5, DSM-5 Handbook of Differential Diagnoses, DSM-5 Clinical Cases, and the Spanish edition of the Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria from DSM-5.
Trip This link opens in a new window
Trip is a clinical search engine that searches high-quality research evidence to support practice and/or care. In addition to research evidence, this search engine also searches other content types including images, videos, patient information leaflets educational courses, and news.
R2 Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Nursing e-book collection.
Springer Protocols This link opens in a new window
Largest set of protocols for biomedical and life sciences.
Subject areas include: biochemistry, bioinformatics, biotechnology, cancer research, cell biology, genetics/genomics, imaging/radiology, immunology, infectious diseases, microbiology, molecular medicine, neuroscience, pharmacology/toxicology, plant sciences, and protein science.

What Works Clearinghouse
Provides scientific evidence for what works in education to improve student outcomes.

Search Engines

Google Scholar