Key Resources for Biology Literature

PubMed comprises more than 33 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Use the above link to get access to Northeastern's full-text content. Click here for a guided walk through of PubMed covering creating effective searches using filters, natural language terms, and MeSH terms.

Sometimes referred to as the PubMed of Europe, Embase is a versatile and up-to-date biomedical research database covering the most important international biomedical literature from 1947 to the present day with more than 32+ million records from 8,200 journals and ‘grey literature’ from over 2.4 million conference abstracts. Embase includes unique non-English content and coverage of the most important types of evidence, such as randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trials, Cochrane reviews and meta-analyses.

Web of Science is a database that broadly covers all of the sciences with strengths in natural sciences, health sciences, engineering, computer science, materials sciences. Great for interdisciplinary research, it also includes coverage of social sciences, arts, and humanities. For tips on searching Web of Science efficiently and effectively, click here. 

Google Scholar is a search engine rather than a database, like PubMed or Web of Science. While it has an academic focus, there is no filter on the information that comes back - it can come from any source that seems academic, including blogs written by academic authors or predatory journals. It provides an easy way to search broadly for scholarly literature across a range of disciplines and topics, but lacks the ability to easily and effectively filter information down to smaller sets. It can be a good place to start your research, but should not be the only resource you consult. View our tutorial to learn more.

Using Scholar OneSearch

Scholar OneSearch

Scholar OneSearch is the library's catalog and can be a great place to look for books/ebooks or do a very broad search on a topic. Search results include books, articles, videos, data sets, and more.  

Still not finding what you need?

Schedule an appointment with me to find the literature on your topic. Librarians are available to meet both in person or via web conference. 

View a complete list of the journals and databases Northeastern subscribes to below:

Journals and Databases: