Search health databases

Learn how to use the major health databases to find the best available evidence for your research

Introduction to Embase
Advanced support

Embase
A huge database of medical and life science citations with an excellent list of subject headings. Use in conjunction with PubMed for comprehensive searching. Has more drug article citations, and more European article citations than PubMed.

Advanced Library Essentials for Health
Self-paced online short courses that teach advanced search techniques using major health databases, including Embase, PubMed, Medline, and more.

From January 2022, Embase has moved from the Elsevier platform to the Ovid platform and will look and act a little differently. The resources on this page and in the Advanced Library Essentials for Health courses have been updated to reflect this.

Embase is made up of content merged from three databases:

Embase, the Excerpta Medica database from Elsevier – 1974 to present
Embase Classic (Excerpta Medica Abstract Journals backfile) – 1947-1973
Medline, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine, including current Medline (1966 onward) plus OldMedline (back to 1950)

Use the interactive activity below for an introduction to searching Embase.

Search Embase effectively:

Embase: Create a logic grid
Learn to create a logic grid suitable for Embase
Embase: Convert your existing logic grid to Ovid
Learn to convert your existing Elsevier-based logic grid to the Ovid syntax.
Embase: Using Emtree terms
Emtree are the indexing terms used in Embase (the equivalent of MeSH in PubMed)
Embase: Running the search
Run an Embase search using your logic grid.
Human studies only
A quick reference guide for how to safely eliminate animal studies from your search results.

Full list of Embase Ovid field codes