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Where to search for literature: Home

Main Bibliographic Databases 

(To access the first 4 databases below, Citrix login is required if you are NOT within the Eastern Health network. See information on remote access for more details.)

Randomised Controlled Trials - specific

World main portals:

Other main WHO-endorsed Registries of Clinical Trials:
(The links will direct you the search / browse trials page)

Systematic Reviews

        (some may also include RCTs)
  • Alliance - As an international partner with WHO, Alliance products evidence synthesis on health policy and system research.
  • CABI Digital Library -  For research and learning in agriculture, the environment and the applied life sciences.
  • Campbell Systematic Reviews an open access journal prepared under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration (also there are Plain Language Summaries of Systematic Reviews published by the Campbell Collaboration)
  • Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews - the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care, published by Cochrane.
  • COSMIN Database of Systematic Reviews - COSMIN systematically collects systematic reviews of outcome measurement instruments.
  • DiTA -  A free database that indexes primary studies of diagnostic test accuracy and systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies related to physiotherapy practice. DiTA has been designed to enable clinicians, researchers and patients to easily access information on the accuracy of diagnostic tests used by physiotherapists.
  • Epistemonikos - is a collaborative, multilingual database of health evidence. It is the largest source of systematic reviews relevant for health-decision making, and a large source of other types of scientific evidence. Quick start guide and how to use a matrix of evidence are available.
  • Evidence Aid - contains systematic reviews related to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and major healthcare emergencies.
  • Joanna Briggs Institute Platform - contains the 2 systematic reviews journal: JBI Evidence Synthesis and JBI Evidence Implementation published by the Joanna Briggs Institute.
  • KTDRR's Registry of Systematic Reviews / Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, American Institutes for Research - contains systematic reviews on disability and rehabilitation topics salient to researchers, persons with disabilities, their families, and service providers.
  • Optimal Aging  -  contains evidence-based information/research about healthy aging for healthcare professionals and their patients/clients, including systematic reviews.
  • palliAGED Search /  palliAGED - provide a range of topics related to palliative care aged care. 
  • PubMed Search strategy for Systematic Reviews
  • SpeechBITE - Speech Pathology Database for Best Interventions and Treatment Efficacy: this database provides ready access to citations and, where possible, abstracts from systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials and non-randomised controlled trials.
  • The BMJ Advanced Search - for Systematic Reviews, scroll down to Filter "By Article Type" and select "Clinical reviews" or "Views and Reviews".

Grey Literature

What & Why?

Grey literature refers to information sources that are beyond the reach of traditional bibliographic databases.  Examples of grey literature include theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, government reports, data and statistics, newsletters, technical reports, standards & clinical guidelines, recommendations, presentations and lecture notes. 

Grey literature is described as ‘highly desirable’ in the evidence landscape (The Cochrane Collaboration, 2022, see 4.3.5). Grey literature provides a broader perspective on research topics than that provided with only an academic focus. Therefore, it helps reduce publication bias (Paez, 2017) in reviews.

Examples of grey literature sources

Further information on designing search strategies and documenting and reporting the grey literature search can be found here (Severn M, Mierzwinski-Urban M, Farrah K, Walter M, Spry C,  Argáez C, 2023).

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