Literature Search

MEDLINE is the medical literature database of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM)

What information is contained in MEDLINE?
Citations and abstracts from major peer-reviewed medical journals. Abstracts are only included if they were present in the original article.  Links to full-text articles may be available.

What information is NOT in MEDLINE?
1. Articles that have just been published. It may take several months for English-language articles to appear in the database, and even longer for foreign journals. These articles may be found on the website of the journal itself.

2. Articles published before 1966. There is a special database (OLDMEDLINE) where some articles from 1960 to 1966 are indexed.

Journals included in MEDLINE
- Major peer-reviewed journals
- Major foreign language journals (English language abstracts)

Journals NOT included in MEDLINE
- Journals that do not meet the NLM's peer-review standards
- Many European and foreign language journals
- New journals without an established peer-review reputation
- Many “non-subscription” journals (i.e. freebies)

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
- MEDLINE indexes articles using a controlled vocabulary
- This allows users to quickly find related articles on a given subject
- A “Major” MeSH term is a primary topic in the article
- A “Minor” MeSH term is a secondary topic in the article

Document Delivery (Loansome Doc)
Check with the nearest medical library to see if they are connected to the NLM's online document delivery service.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

National Library of Medicine
The National Library of Medicine is the US government agency that maintains the MEDLINE database.

PubMed
The NLM's MEDLINE user-friendly search interface; Enter search terms in natural language and the program will translate this into a search strategy; For detailed information, visit Overview, Help, and Frequently Asked Questions or the PubMed Tutorial at the University of Florida

Health Knowledge Network 
MEDLINE access for University of Calgary, University of Alberta and subscribing Alberta health regions.

Canadian Medical Association
The CMA provides full-text journal access for members in the Clinical Resources section, under "Journals". 

Canadian Library of Family Medicine
Literature searching service for members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada

Embase
The European equivalent of MEDLINE database.  A subscription is required.