Research Guides: IACUC: Animal Use Alternatives: Where to Search

Best Practices

The UMD IACUC requires you to use at least 2 primary databases in your search.
You should perform your search close to when you submit your protocol or amendment. A search that was run last year may not include the most up to date literature, and you may be asked to redo your search.
Once you run your search in a database, you may need to refine your search. Literature searching is often an iterative process.
- The number of results is usually a good indicator if you need to tweak your search. If there are too many results, consider using narrower, more specific terms. If too few results were found, use more general search terms.
- Double check that you have the relevant components to your protocol included in your search. Refer to the How to Search page.

Save your search!

You need to provide documentation of your search to the IACUC. You also may need to run your search again if you submit an amendment or renewal to your protocol. Keep a good record of your search to save yourself some headache.

Most databases will allow you to create an account and you can save your search and also set alerts to have the database periodically email you with new articles related to your search. You can also copy your search directly from the database and save in it a document or spreadsheet.

Google Scholar

Do NOT include Google Scholar as one of your primary databases. The UMD IACUC will require you to redo your search if you submit a protocol listing Google Scholar as one of your primary databases.
- You should only use Google Scholar to supplement your search or for a cited reference search.
- Its coverage is incomplete and includes many low-quality and predatory sources.
- Its results are not reproducible.

Databases - Best Bets

The below databases are your best bet when beginning your search for animal use alternatives.

PubMed
The National Library of Medicine's Medline database that provides abstracts and indexing for about 4,600 biomedical journals published in the U.S. and 70 foreign countries, and includes additional older citations and out of scope citations from Medline journals. Medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychiatry, pre-clinical sciences, medical education, public health, health care planning and administration of services. Also includes additional life science journals. mid-1960s - present

PubMed Info:
- Use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Allows you to create an account to save searches and set search alerts.
- The search interface includes Medline, plus life science journals, PubMed Central (full-text repository) and online books not indexed in Medline.
- Years covered: 1966 - Present

Web of Science Core Collection
The Web of Science Core Collection provides comprehensive coverage of the sciences, social sciences, and arts, and humanities across journals, books and conference proceedings. It indexes more than 5,700 major journals across 164 scientific disciplines. The best database for finding what papers have cited other papers. Cited references can be traced forward in time. Web of Science Training Materials available here: http://wokinfo.com/training_support/training/web-of-science

Web of Science Core Collection Info:
- No subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Allows you to create an account to save searches and set search alerts.
- Years covered: 1900 - Present

BIOSIS Previews
Provides access to the life sciences literature from more than 5,500 journals, books, conference proceedings, US patents, papers and posters, nomenclature rules, and taxonomic keys. Provides access to the traditional areas of biology, such as botany, zoology and microbiology, as well as related fields such as biomedical, agriculture, pharmacology and ecology. Interdisciplinary fields such as medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bio-engineering and biotechnology are also included. Time span 1970-present.
BIOSIS Citation Index, 1926-present
Combines the unique BIOSIS content that is critical to life sciences research with powerful citation indexing only the Web of Science platform can provide. Includes comprehensive and relevant life sciences coverage.

BIOSIS Info:
- All BIOSIS Previews journals are indexed in BIOSIS Citation Index. However, BIOSIS Citation Index has additional citation data and is therefore more comprehensive.
- Use the "Major Concepts" field for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Uses the same interface as Web of Science Core Collection.
- Allows you to create an account and save searches and set search alerts.
- Years covered: Biosis Previews 1970 - Present; Biosis Citation Index 1926 - Present

Scopus
Scopus is an abstract and citation database with over 80 million records and 1.8 billion cited references that date back to 1970. Includes over 27 thousand serial titles and 249 thousand monographs in the social, physical, life and health sciences, as well as over 44 million patent records. More information on using Scopus is available at: https://elsevier.libguides.com/Scopus.

Scopus Info:
- No subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Allows you to create an account and save searches and set search alerts.
- Years covered: 1970 - present

AGRICOLA
Citations to journal articles, book chapters, monographs, conference proceedings, serials, technical reports, and other materials on a range of agricultural topics.

Agricola Info:
- Use the National Agricultural Library's Thesaurus for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searches.
- Years Covered: 1970 - Present

NCBI Databases
The National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Library of Medicine has multiple databases that you can search. These databases include information on chemicals, genes, proteins, and more. Visit their webpages to search their databases.

Notes:

The UMD Libraries does not currently have a subscription to the CAB Abstracts database. If you are able to access this database through a collaborator or other means, it is an excellent option for animal alternatives searching.
TOXNET was a popular source for animal use alternatives. It has now been integrated into various National Library of Medicine Resources. See this page for more information on where to find TOXNET resources.

Additional Places to Search

These may be helpful depending on your animal model and protocol.

ALTBIB
The Bibliography on Alternatives to the Use of Live Vertebrates in Biomedical Research and Testing. Created by the National Library of Medicine. Provides access to PubMed/MEDLINE citations relevant to alternatives to the use of live vertebrates in biomedical research and testing.

ALTBIB Info:
- ALTBIB is a subset of PubMed citations focused on animal alternatives literature. While it has this focus, there may be articles it misses, so it still is useful to search in PubMed.
- Use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Years covered: 1980 - Present

AGRIS - International System for Agricultural Science and Technology
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) maintains the International System for Agricultural Science and Technology (AGRIS); one of the most comprehensive search engines in food and agricultural scientific literature.

AGRIS Info:
- Use AGROVOC for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Years covered: 1975 - Present

Zoological Record, 1864-present
The world's oldest continuing database of animal biology. It is considered the world's leading taxonomic reference, and with coverage back to 1864, has long acted as the world's unofficial register of animal names.

Zoological Record Info:
- Uses the same interface as Web of Science Core Collection.
- Allows you to create an account and save searches and set search alerts
- Years covered: 1864 - Present

PsycINFO
PsycINFO is the most comprehensive index in psychology and related fields, with more than 1.7 million citations and abstracts of journal articles, book chapters and books, technical reports, and dissertations. Its holdings include material from 1,700 periodicals in over 30 languages. Covering the entire range of psychology disciplines, PsycINFO also includes information about the psychological aspects of related fields such as psychiatry, neuroscience, medicine, sociology, education, linguistics, anthropology, business and law. PsycINFO spans 1887 to the present. PsycINFO has links to the full-text articles in PsycARTICLES and the Psychology and in the Behavioral Sciences Collection (thus the user does not have to search each of these databases separately).

PsycINFO Info:
- Use the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Hosted on the EBSCOhost interface. Create an EBSCO account to save searches and set search alerts.
- Years covered: 1887 - Present

JoVE
A peer-reviewed multi-disciplinary scientific video journal indexed in PubMed and Web of Science enables users to quickly and systematically learn new research methods and technologies developed at top science laboratories. Includes material related to Behavior, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Biology, Cancer Research, Chemistry, Developmental Biology, Engineering, Environment, Genetics, Immunology and Infection, Medicine, and Neuroscience.

JoVE Info:
- JoVE is a video journal. It should not be used as one of your primary databases but can be used as a supplemental resource.

MEDLINE
Provides abstracts and indexing using Medical Subject Headings (MESH) for about 4,600 biomedical journals published in the U.S. and 70 foreign countries. Created by the United States National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE is an authoritative bibliographic database containing citations and abstracts for biomedical and health journals. Users can effectively search and retrieve information with Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Covers the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, psychiatry, pre-clinical sciences, medical education and health care planning and administration of services. 1966- present.
Do not attempt to search on authors by truncating the first name. Last, F? will often result in zero hits. Try searching on Last or Last, First
There are no ISBNs in this database.

MEDLINE Info:
- Medline is a subset of citations in PubMed. Use this link if you only want to search MEDLINE.
- Use MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) for subject headings/controlled vocabulary searching.
- Hosted on the EBSCOhost interface. Create an EBSCO account to save searches and set search alerts.

Managing Results

Once you are happy with your search, you will need to read the literature that you retrieved.

Citation managers (e.g., Endnote or Zotero) allow you to easily keep track of and organize search results. By using a citation manager, you will be able to attach notes to references that can include keywords, subjects, or other elements. You can also save these citations and notes for the next time you need to run your search.

Please see the UMD Libraries' Citation Management Tools LibGuide for more information.