Using databases
The databases below provide excellent starting points for research. To identify additional resources, use the Research Subject Guides described on the Get Started page.
Jump to:
- Current Awareness databases
- Interdisciplinary databases
- Business databases
- Criminal Justice databases
- Legal databases
- Medical/Pharmaceutical/Psychological databases
- News databases
- Public Policy databases
A few search tips:
- Use synonyms and related terms to ensure comprehensiveness.
- In most databases, it's helpful to enclose phrases within quotation marks.
- Connectors like OR, AND, and NOT are capitalized in some databases like Scholar OneSearch and Policy Commons.
Sample searches:
- "falsified medicines" OR "substandard medicines" OR "counterfeit medicines" OR "fake medicines"
- "pharmaceutical industry" AND counterfeiting
For additional search assistance, please visit our Research Tutorials.
Current Awareness
These resources provide an excellent way to keep up to date on current developments in the pharmaceutical and health industries.
- Pink Sheet (Citeline) This link opens in a new windowNews and analysis of the biopharmaceutical industry, updated daily. For access, please click 'Sign In' and use your Northeastern email and password.
- Stat+ (Boston Globe Publishing) This link opens in a new windowNews about the biotech, pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, and public policy issues and analysis related to the life sciences and health. US focus, but global in scope. Access requires additional registration on the STAT+ site with a Northeastern email address.
Interdisciplinary Databases
Scholar OneSearch provides access to both the library catalog and a high percentage of the library's other subscribed content, most notably journal and news articles. Although Scholar One isn't comprehensive, it gives the researcher an overview of the library's holdings and a sense of the scope of materials available.
Other interdisciplinary resources include:
- Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowScholarly, peer-reviewed articles and professional association publications, Abstracts and links to full text, about half are peer reviewed, covering all academic subjects including STEM fields.
Use this link if you want to include video clips from the Associated Press in your search results. - JSTOR This link opens in a new windowOne of the most trusted sources for scholarly books and historical journal backfiles. Beginning in 2023, JSTOR also includes ArtStor images of art and primary source artifacts.
Business Databases
- Business Source Ultimate (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowSometimes called the "Swiss Army knife" of business databases for its broad coverage. Includes trade magazines, scholarly articles, industry profiles, product reviews, SWOT analyses, country reports, and newspapers and magazines.
Criminal Justice Databases
- Criminal Justice Abstracts (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowCitations and abstracts of scholarly, peer-reviewed articles and professional association news and information. Covers criminology; criminal justice; criminal law and procedure; corrections; police and policing; forensic sciences; history of crime; substance abuse; probation and parole. Links to full text.
- Criminal Justice Database (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowScholarly, peer-reviewed articles and professional association news and information, correctional and law enforcement trade publications, dissertations, crime reports. Mostly full text. May be searched as part of the Social Sciences Premium Collection or in conjunction with the ProQuest Sociology Collection.
Legal Databases
- Westlaw Campus Research This link opens in a new windowSearch federal and state court cases, statutes and codes as well as European Union laws and regulations. Secondary sources include the American Law Reports and the American Jurisprudence encyclopedia, law reviews, journals, and newspapers.
- Tutorials: Find cases and articles in Westlaw (video) or see a PDF version
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowHeinOnline is available courtesy of the Northeastern School of Law Library.
Full text legal documents including regulations and other government publications, reports, Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) and UN Treaty series, and law reviews and journals.
Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Psychological Databases
- PubMed (NU customized)A comprehensive source of journal literature in the life sciences and biomedicine from the National Library of Medicine. Includes selected full text from PubMed Central, and NCBI Bookshelf. PubMed is a free web resource, however this version contains links to Northeastern-subscribed journals that require a login.
- International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new windowCitations and abstracts to worldwide pharmaceutical literature, over 750 health journals, major pharmacy meetings, and all U.S. state pharmacy journals. Links to full text. This database is limited to 8 simultaneous users.
- Public Health Database (Proquest) This link opens in a new windowCore public health literature with access to 500 full-text publications and 9,000 dissertations as well as research reports and newspaper articles.
News Databases
Take advantage of your free NUL digital subscriptions to the New York Times, Financial Times, Nikkei Asia, and the Wall Street Journal. The subscription links/instructions are provided below.
- Access World News Research Collection (Newsbank) This link opens in a new windowInternational and domestic news coverage. Dates vary by title, but some sources go back to the late 1970’s. Older titles are text-only but ,increasingly, newspaper images are available.
- Financial TimesLondon-based and international in scope, with extensive business, marketing, economic, political, news and trends worldwide. Also hosts subject-focused newsletters, podcasts, and live conferences. Access to the Financial Times requires registration with a Northeastern or NU Boston email address.
- New York Times via NYTimes.com This link opens in a new windowNortheastern offers current and archival access to the New York Times. Please use the link above to register with a Northeastern email address. Once registered, users can log in directly at https://www.nytimes.com or use the New York Times app on a smartphone or device.
- Nikkei Asia This link opens in a new windowCoverage of Asia's economic, political, business and technology news in English. Established with a goal to change the way the Asia is covered internationally and to enhance the world’s understanding of pan-Asian affairs.
Also includes data on financial markets and top companies in the region.
- Proquest Newsstreams (U.S., Canada, International) This link opens in a new windowLocal, regional and global newspapers, newswires, and blogs. Generally text only.
- Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowLeading economic, business, finance, and political news, information, commentary and analysis. For historic WSJ content dating back to 1985, please use Factiva (Opens in new window). Individual registration using a Northeastern email address is required.
Public Policy Databases
For more extensive descriptions and sample searches, please check the Policy Resources page!
- Policy Commons This link opens in a new windowReports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media drawn from a directory of nearly 25,000 IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, and research centers.
- PolicyFile This link opens in a new windowU.S. foreign and domestic policy papers and gray literature, PolicyFile is updated weekly with abstracts and links to the latest reports, papers, and documents from think tanks, research institutes, and agencies.