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- Step 2: Find Databases
IACUC and Animal Welfare Resources: Step 2: Find Databases
This guide provides resources for researchers on the conducting, facilitating, and overseeing of the use of animals in research. It also includes step by step instructions for how to search for alternatives in the literature required for the IACUC protoco
Finding Databases and Grey Literature
After constructing a searchable research question, the next step is to select relevant databases. Researchers should search at least 2 databases for an effective literature search that are relevant to the area of study. Researchers should also consider searching for "grey literature" or unpublished materials such as reports, conference papers, evaluations etc.
Searching for both published and unpublished works:
- Provides a more holistic view on the topic
- Reduces publication bias by allowing diverse bodies of work
- Increases the chances of a thorough search that approaches comprehensiveness
Databases
The following is a list of databases available via the Levy Library by subject.
Biomedical and Biological Sciences
- PubMedPubMed comprises more than 28 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
[Coverage: 1946 - Present] - Embase (Ovid)Provides citations and abstracts for the biomedical sciences journal literature, in particular pharmacology, biotechnology, toxicology and occupational and environmental health. Covers 7,000 journals, over 25% of which are not in MEDLINE. Indexes articles using the Emtree thesaurus, which emphasizes synonyms for drugs and chemicals.
[Coverage: 1947 - Present]
Interdisciplinary
- ScopusA large interdisciplinary database that provides citations and abstracts for journal articles in thousands of subjects. Citation information is tracked back to 1996, allowing you to identify articles that reference earlier articles, calculate metrics such as the h-index and compare journal citation information.
[Coverage: 1996 - Present] - Web of ScienceA large interdisciplinary database that includes the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index.
[Coverage: 1900 - Present]
Subject Specific Databases
The following is a list of open-access databases by subject.
Alternatives and 3R's
- ALTBIBAltBib provides efficient tools to assist investigators in searching MEDLINE to find alternatives to animal testing. It is intended to assist in identifying methods and procedures helpful in supporting the development, testing, application, and validation of alternatives to the use of vertebrates in biomedical research and toxicology testing.
[Coverage: 1980 - Present] - AWI Refinement DatabaseThe AWI Refinement Database, is an open access database that references scientific books, articles, and other publications on proper handling of animals used in research. Coverage dates: Created in 2000, updated every three months.
[Coverage: 2000 - Present] - Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT)The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) was created to serve as a gateway to alternatives news, information, and resources on the Internet and beyond. The CAAT is also home to the ALTEX journal covering 1984 to the present.
- NORINAAn English-language database containing information on approx. 3,000 audiovisual aids that may be used as alternatives or supplements to the use of animals in education and training, including dissection alternatives, at all levels from Junior School to University.
[Coverage: 1991 - Present] - 3R's Resource LibraryA database with information on non-published resources in a variety of topics including alternatives, husbandry, handling etc.
[Coverage: 2010 - Present]
Toxicology
- ECOTOXA comprehensive Knowledgebase providing single chemical environmental toxicity data on aquatic and terrestrial species.
[Coverage: 1972 - Present] - TOXNETThe Toxicological Data Network (TOXNET), provides a large collection of databases covering various areas in toxicology such as chemicals, drugs, risk assessments and more.
[Coverage: Varies] - ToxCastDeveloped by the EPA, ToxCast collects and generates predictive models of chemicals.
[Coverage: 2007 - Present]
Agriculture, Biology, and Animal Husbandry
- PrimateLitPrimateLit was formerly an online database that provided scientific literature on nonhuman primates. This database was archived in 2018 as an XML file by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
[Coverage: 1940 - 2010] - PubMed Central (PMC)PubMed Central is an open access database with full-text biomedical and life sciences articles.
[Coverage: 1700s - Present] - USDA National Agricultural LibraryThe USDA National Agricultural library has combined three databases into one (PubAG, AGRICOLA and the National Agricultural Library Digital Collections).
[Agricola Coverage: 1970 - Present]
[PubAg Coverage: 1997 - Present]