Why do I need to search multiple databases for my medical research?
It depends on your research topic. Some areas may be rich in resources in just one or two databases. However, for most detailed research projects such as systematic reviews you may need to scout around a bit, especially if your research is focusing on a new area of development.
Each medical and human science database has its own strengths and weaknesses so you will need to experiment to find the best one for your topic. Some of the smaller database platforms (such as Clarivate or ProQuest) have more limited functionality compared with the larger platforms (such as Ovid or EBSCO).
Most databases focus on a particular subject area such as medicine or law and you need to be aware of this if you are looking at an area that spans across several disciplines. For example, if you are looking at the impact of long-term sectioning of a patient with mental health issues on the patient and their families, your search concepts will include mental health, social issues, human rights and law. Therefore, you may need to use health, law and sociology databases to consider all of these areas. The key databases for each discipline are listed on the Library’s subject pages.
There will always be a degree of duplication of results across databases. Abstracts are not unique to specific databases just as groceries are not unique to particular supermarkets. There will be some unique articles in a database just as there are some unique (own brand?) groceries in supermarkets.
You may or may not have seen the online resources on the Systematic Review Guide and the Specialist Library Support pages for Advanced Searching. These pages give guidance on many of the medical and human sciences database platforms and help with starting your research.
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