Searching the Literature
Because health informatics pulls from many different fields, it's important to search in multiple databases. Use the tabbed box to identify databases in Medicine, Business, Computer Science, and more. If you run into problems finding relevant research content, please contact a librarian!
Grey Literature
The following information types are all considered "grey literature." Visit the link below for more information and resources to locate these resources.
- Census, economic and other data sources
- Conference proceedings and abstracts
- Databases of ongoing research
- Electronic networks (Listserv archives, etc.)
- Informal communications (phone conversations, email, meetings, etc.)
- Newsletters
- Preprints of e-journal articles
- Registered clinical trials
- Research reports (completed and uncompleted)
- Technical reports
- Theses and Dissertations
- Web log (blog)
- White papers
- UIC Grey Literature GuideFrom our Nursing Research Guide, this page provides an overview of grey literature and where to find it.
- Lister Hill Library Grey Literature GuideMore information, including videos, about grey literature from the Lister Hill Library.
AMIA Symposium Proceedings
Access the AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings here.
Recommended Databases
- PubMed
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, provides access to MEDLINE citations back to the mid-1960's to present.
- EMBASE : Excerpta Medica Database
Database in biomedicine which also excels in its coverage of pharmaceutical research.
- CINAHL Plus with Full Text
CINAHL covers literature related to nursing and allied health.
Our EBSCOhost databases will be moving to a new user interface starting Monday, May 19th, 2025 with the exception of CINAHL which will transition on August 1st.
For additional information about searching and managing results, please visit the EBSCOhost Transition Center.
Please send additional queries or comments to: ask@uic.libanswers.com
- ACM Digital Library
This site provides access to tables of contents, abstracts, reviews, and full text of every article ever published by ACM and citations from major publishers in computing.
- IEEE Xplore
IEEE journals and conference proceedings; Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) journals and proceedings; all current IEEE Standards.
Note: If you're unable to set up an IEEE account, go to https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/. After creating an account, go to IEEE in the library website and sign in.
- ABI/INFORM Global
ABI/INFORM is an extensive business research database with full-text articles from business journals, business and trade magazines and newspapers.
- Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete provides full-text to a large number of business sources, including business journals, trade publications and business magazines.
Our EBSCOhost databases will be moving to a new user interface starting Monday, May 19th, 2025 with the exception of CINAHL which will transition on August 1st.
For additional information about searching and managing results, please visit the EBSCOhost Transition Center.
Please send additional queries or comments to: ask@uic.libanswers.com
- Gartner Research
Gartner Research provides access to research and analysis on information technology (IT) technologies, practices, and strategies performed by the Gartner Group. The University of Illinois Administrative Information Technology Services subscribes to this database. Selected reports are available for students, faculty and staff of the University of Illinois.
- Academic Search Complete
This multidisciplinary database provides access to articles from journals, magazines, and reference sources across all subject areas. Coverage is primarily from 1980 to the present, with some older content.
Our EBSCOhost databases will be moving to a new user interface starting Monday, May 19th, 2025 with the exception of CINAHL which will transition on August 1st.
For additional information about searching and managing results, please visit the EBSCOhost Transition Center.
Please send additional queries or comments to: ask@uic.libanswers.com
- ERIC on EBSCOhostERIC is the world's largest education database. Published by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI).
- Google Scholar
Searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from broad areas of research. It includes a variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
- Professional Development Collection (for educators)
Provides a highly specialized collection of nearly 600 full text education journals, 1965 to present.
Our EBSCOhost databases will be moving to a new user interface starting Monday, May 19th, 2025 with the exception of CINAHL which will transition on August 1st.
For additional information about searching and managing results, please visit the EBSCOhost Transition Center.
Please send additional queries or comments to: ask@uic.libanswers.com
- ScienceDirect
A web database for research that contains abstracts, tables of contents, and full text of articles in the physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities.
- Scopus
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications and quality web sources. Subject coverage includes: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Engineering; Life and Health Sciences; Social Sciences, Psychology and Economics; Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Web of Science
Multidisciplinary coverage of over 10,000 journals in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, as well as published proceedings for over 12,000 conferences per year, and over 50,000 scholarly books. Allows searching for articles in the database that have cited a particular work, as well as perform other analytics.
