LibGuides: Pharmacy Research Guide: Finding Articles

Why Bother with Library Databases?

Most of what you find on Google isn't scholarly.
When you do find something scholarly on Google, the site often asks you to pay for it.
You should never have to pay for content. That's what the library is for!

Image credit: Everson, B. (2012). Why? [photo]. CC. Image link.

Explore More Databases

Databases A - Z Alphabetical list of FLITE's more than 100 databases.
Databases by Broad Subject Areas Business, Financial, & Legal; Education & Career; General & Multidisciplinary; Health & Medical; Humanities; Librarian Resources; News Service / Newspapers; Reference; Science & Technology; Social Sciences
Databases by Major: All listings within system
Databases by Major: COHP, MCO & Pharmacy Database recommendations for College of Pharmacy, College of Health Professions, and Michigan College of Optometry
Ebook Databases Find full ebooks or relevant chapters / book entries.
Reference: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries.... Need an encyclopedia entry or a definition? Try these databases.
Video Databases Streaming videos.

Recommended Pharmacy Databases

Pharmacy Database Recommendations
by Ali Konieczny Last Updated Apr 4, 2025 4850 views this year

Building Your Search Strategy

Before you begin searching in large article databases such as CINAHL or PubMed, be sure to create an effective search strategy to obtain optimal results. Please download the document below.

Building an Effective Search Strategy PDF fillable form to help you build a search strategy. ADA accessible.

Health & Medical Literature Databases

International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (ProQuest)
International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA) database provides summaries of articles published in more than 800 journals. Major areas of coverage include: drug reactions, toxicity, investigational drugs, drug evaluations, drug interactions, drug stability, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, preliminary drug testing, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, and methodology. Coverage is from 1970 to present.
Learn more about IPA.
PubMed
PubMed is the largest biomedical database, made freely available by the National Library of Medicine. PubMed cross-searches over 5000 journals covering topics related to fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, imaging sciences, veterinary medicine, the health care system, the preclinical sciences, and other areas of the life sciences.
- PubMed Quick Start guide
- PubMed Tutorials
Cochrane Library
The Cochrane Library is a collection of six unique evidence-based databases: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews(main database), The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, The NHS Economic Evaluation Database, The Health Technology Assessment Database, and The Cochrane Methodology Register.
Cochrane Guide
Health and Wellness (Gale)
Full text articles from medical journals and health magazines as well as reference sources, streaming video, audio, and images on health-related issues. Also includes Spanish editions of notable content and a Spanish search filter.
CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (EBSCO)
Full text articles from over 70 journals as well as legal cases, clinical innovations, critical paths, drug records, research instruments, and clinical trials. Also includes two million citations for over 2,900 journals from 1981 to present.

Help - How do I get the Full Text?

Only finding an abstract or citation for an article when searching within databases? No worries, just look for the following linking options when you're in a database:

Ferris FullText
Ferris Full Text
Access options
Get full text

Below are screenshots of the full text linking options you may encounter:

Ferris Full Text: Expect this option in many databases, including PubMed and databases from the vendor Gale.

Screenshot from a Gale database showing the Ferris Full Text link:

Access options: Expect to see this in EBSCO databases. Expand the Access options pull-down menu to see full text linking options, as shown in the screenshot below.

Get full text: Expect to see this in ProQuest databases, as depicted in the screenshot below.

Learn More about Full Text Linking

See the Full Text Linking tab of this guide to learn more.

Other Databases of Potential Interest for Finding Articles

ScienceDirect
Full text articles and chapters from over 4,700 journals and over 34,000 books from 1995 to present.
Gale PowerSearch
Searches one, several, or all of the Gale databases simultaneously.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
Full text articles from over 8,500 publications including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Also contains citations for over 25,000 publications including white papers, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
SAGE Journals
Full text articles from over 1,100 journals, including over 200 open access ones, published by 400 society partners.
Springer Nature Link
Full text articles and chapters from over 2,600 journals and over 23,000 books on subjects such as medicine, science, and technology.