Journal articles

You can use various databases to search for journal articles on a topic. Pubmed is one of the most important and most used databases in the biomedical field. Besides PubMed, we offer many more databases.

Don't search for articles in the catalogue
Although some journal articles can be found in our catalogue SmartCat, we recommend that you always use PubMed or one of the other article databases to search for articles on a topic. SmartCat is intended for searching for books.

Keeping current with tables of contents

How to stay up-do-date with the scientific literature in your field? Here are the top 4 tools recommended by the Medical Library:

How to get the full text of an article

• Always open PubMed through the library website!
  This is important because only then will you see a red Get it! button next to all the articles.

• Click 'Get it!' to go to the PDF
  When you have found an article, click on 'Get it!' to see if the library has access. There are two options:
  
  1. The article is available
     If the item is in our collection, the 'Get it!' button will take you directly to the full text (PDF) of the article.
  2. The article is not available: request it!
     If we don't have the article in our collection, 'Get it!' will take you to an intermediate screen where you can request the article from another library.
     UMCG employees and students can request for free at libraries worldwide.

Need help with a search strategy?

Make an appointment

If you need help setting up a good search strategy, for example for a systematic review or a CAT, please schedule an appointment with a medical information specialist from the Medical Library.

Online information about article search

Check out our comprehensive guide to article search for a systematic review:

Sign up for a library workshop

We offer workshops for students and staff on how to search PubMed and how to conduct a systematic review: