Databases:
Web of Science
Web of Science (WoS) by Clarivate is a comprehensive collection of research databases that provides multidisciplinary coverage of scholarly literature published in high-impact research journals.
- Purpose: WoS encapsulates journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities fields that are indexed in the following sources:
- Science Citation Index Expanded
- Social Sciences Citation Index
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index
- Conference Proceedings Citation Index (Science & Technical Edition).
- Functionality: WoS's multi-functionality provides valuable data on:
- Indexing
- Citations
- Article publications
- Journal information, such as bibliometric data to measure, evaluate, and track scientific research including Impact Factor
- Research topics
- General article search functionality.
- Intended Audience: Researchers, authors, readers, and academics in the following fields:
- Sciences
- Social sciences
- Arts & humanities
- Search Techniques and Strategies
- Basic and advanced search techniques
- WoS categories - helps find journals and articles within specific categories based on the scientific field of study
- Topic-based, abstract, article title, author name, journal publication title search functionality
- Filter and search options, including but not limited to:
- Publication year
- Accessibility: Open Access
- Citations (highly cited papers)
- Document type (Original research article, review article, editorial material)
National Library of Medicine
National Library of Medicine (NLM) via the National Institutes of Health (NIH); also referred to as MEDLINE and PubMed Central. NLM is the world's largest biomedical library and a national resource. NLM plays a pivotal role in translating biomedical research into practice.
- Purpose:
- NLM pioneers new ways to make biomedical data and information more accessible
- Builds tools for better data management and personal health
- Helps create a more diverse and data-skilled workforce
- Enables researchers, clinicians, and the public to use the vast wealth of biomedical data to improve health
- Functionality: Research and information services for:
- Scientific discovery
- Health care
- Public health
- Intended Audience:
- Health professionals
- Scientists
- General public
- Search Techniques and Strategies
- Basic and advanced search functionality
- MeSH terms, title/author, journal, publisher, publication type, etc. searchability
- Filter by publication date, text availability, and article type
Directory of Open Access Journals
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 
is a not-for-profit website that indexes and provides access to open-access, peer-reviewed journals.
- Purpose DOAJ's mission is to increase the visibility, accessibility, and impact of open access research. It does this by:
- Indexing journals that meet high quality standards
- Providing access to journals and articles
- Curating a list of journals from all countries and in all languages
- Functionality: DOAJ evaluates journals based on standards for:
- ISSN
- Quality control process
- Licensing
- Copyright
- Open access
- Journal website information
- Intended Audience: Researchers, readers, authors, and academics in the following fields:
- All areas of science
- Technology
- Medicine
- Social sciences
- Arts & humanities
- Search Techniques and Strategies:
- Basic and advance search functionality for journals or articles
- Various search functionality options:
- All fields
- Title
- ISSN
- Subject
- Publisher
- Country of Publisher
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a Google-based search engine that helps users find scholarly literature, including articles, theses, books, abstracts, and court opinions.
- Purpose:
- Search all scholarly literature from one convenient place
- Explore related works, citations, authors, and publications
- Locate the complete document through your library or on the web
- Keep up with recent developments in any area of research
- Check who's citing your publications, create a public author profile
- Functionality/Other Features: In addition to the traditional Google search-engine based functionality, Google Scholar provides:
- How often and how recently it has been cited in other scholarly literature
- The full text of each document
- Where it was published
- Who it was written by
- Intended Audience: Google Scholar's audience is much wider than that of a traditional database, focusing on the wider, general public, alongside researchers and academics. Google Scholar encapsulates many disciplines and sources, including:
- Academic publishers
- Professional societies
- Online repositories
- Universities
- Other websites
- Search Tips and Techniques
- Basic and advanced search functionality
- Open search query capability
- Filter options include
- Publication date
- Article type
- Citation and patent inclusion
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) is a multidisciplinary database designed for academic institutions, is a leading resource for scholarly research. ASC is one of the most popular databases from EBSCO, and is considered a good starting point for research.
- Purpose:
- Provides access to a wide range of peer-reviewed journals across various disciplines, including some medical topics
- Can be useful for finding background information or related research in different fields connected to medicine
- Functionality:
- Multidisciplinary coverage: Access to articles from various academic fields like history, psychology, sociology, science, etc.
- Full-text access: Provides the complete text of many articles, not just abstracts
- Peer-reviewed content: Includes a substantial amount of peer-reviewed journal articles
- Indexing and abstracts: Even for articles without full text, users can access indexing and abstracts
- Search capabilities: Allows for advanced search options to narrow down results based on keywords, subject terms, publication date, etc.
- PDF availability: Many articles are available in PDF format for easy download
- Intended Audience: As ASC is designed for academic institutions, its access is limited to academic students, faculty, and researchers. Additionally, ASC is not considered the best database specifically for medicine, however, it's a good starting point for general medical research due to its broad coverage of academic journals, and should be referred to as a last-resort. ASC is suitable for many different types of research and classes, including:
- English
- History
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Search Techniques and Strategies
- Basic and advance search functionality
- Field options include:
- All text
- Author
- Title
- Subject terms
- Abstract
- Author-supplied keywords
- ISSN