This guide is for physical therapy students and faculty.
About This Page
This page lists the top recommended databases for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Counseling. A database is a searchable collection of articles, books, and other resources you usually can’t find on Google.
Choose a database below to get started.
Recommended Databases for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Counseling
An immense database produced by the National Library of Medicine. International coverage of more than 3,500 journals covering all areas of biomedical research. Coverage is 1965 to the present.
Also known as Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), the database provides citations to articles, new books and pamphlets, audiovisual materials, dissertations, selected conference proceedings, standards of professional practice and educational software. Material from librarianship, biomedicine, management, health sciences, education and consumer health journals are also included.
Provides users with reliable healthcare information covering nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, and much more. This versatile database is designed to meet the needs of researchers at healthcare facilities as well as nursing and allied health programs at academic institutions. ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source provides abstracting and indexing for more than 850 titles, with over 715 titles in full-text, plus more than 12,000 full text dissertations representing the most rigorous scholarship in nursing and related fields.
Full-text companion to the MEDLINE index, providing medical professionals and researchers unparalleled access to 2,500 active full-text journals, including numerous top biomedical publications.
Cochrane Library--is a collection of six databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making, and a seventh database that provides information about groups in The Cochrane Collaboration.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
Cochrane Methodology Register
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects
Health Technology Assessment Database
NHS Economic Evaluation Database
About The Cochrane Collaboration
Rehabilitation Information Center, it is the leading literature database on disability and rehabilitation. The database describes over 80,000 documents covering physical, mental, and psychiatric disabilities, independent living, vocational rehabilitation, special education, assistive technology, law, employment, and other issues as they relate to people with disabilities. The collection spans 1956 to the present. (From REHABDATA website)
Physiotherapy Evidence Database. PEDro is a free database of over 23,000 randomised trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy. For each trial, review or guideline, PEDro provides the citation details, the abstract and a link to the full text, where possible. All trials on PEDro are independently assessed for quality. These quality ratings are used to quickly guide users to trials that are more likely to be valid and to contain sufficient information to guide clinical practice. PEDro is produced by the Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy at The George Institute for Global Health. (Description from PEDro website)
This database originated with the acquisition and subsequent merging of two popular databases in the fields of communication and mass media studies -- CommSearch (formerly produced by the National Communication Association (NCA)), and Mass Media Articles Index (formerly produced by Pennsylvania State University). Communication & Mass Media Complete provides an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and educators interested in any and all aspects of communication and mass media.
With over 1.8 million journal articles, official reports, and other educational research resources, ERIC is the most popular database for Education research. A free version of ERIC is available at https://eric.ed.gov/
Over 4 million indexes, journal articles, chapters in books and entire books on psychology and related fields compiled by the American Psychological Association. Coverage: 1887-present.
Scopus uniquely combines a comprehensive, expertly curated abstract and citation database with enriched data and linked scholarly literature across a wide variety of disciplines. Scopus quickly finds relevant and authoritative research, identifies experts and provides access to reliable data, metrics and analytical tools. Be confident in progressing research, teaching or research direction and priorities — all from one database and with one subscription.
Science Direct provides access to the full text of more than 320 journals published by Elsevier Science. Articles are generally available from 1995 forward. Please note that Northern does not subscribe to all of the journals within Science Direct.
An immense database produced by the National Library of Medicine. International coverage of more than 3,500 journals covering all areas of biomedical research. Some Full Text. Coverage is 1965 to the present. Medline is on FirstSearch.
The world's largest academic multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Premier provides full text for nearly 4,700 publications, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
An index of articles from nearly 12,500 journals addressing all academic areas. Coverage is 1990 to the present. ArticleFirst is in First Search. Some Full Text.
Mometrix eLibrary provides test prep resources for over 1500 different standardized exams including: ILTS, CPA, DAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, NCE, TOEFL, and VTNE, and a wide range of career exams for the teaching, medical, construction, fitness, public service, and finance fields. Test prep resources include: practice tests, flashcards, videos, and study guides aimed to match the official tests.
Cabells, formerly known as Cabell's Directories, is the complete source for journal information, evaluation metrics, and submission details for universities and its scholars. NIU is subscribed to 3 sets, Business, Education, and Health and Nursing Journalytics. Each journal entry offers contact information, manuscript and submission guidelines, acceptance rates, and other actionable metrics to support informed decisions when preparing your manuscript for submission to a publication.
ProQuest Digital Dissertations-- Provides bibliographic citations, and full-text access for doctoral dissertations and master's thesis completed at over 1,000 accredited colleges and universities worldwide.
Ebook Central -- This electronic book package includes more than 150,000 individual texts covering a vast array of academic subjects and disciplines. The database boasts a distinguished set of publishers including such university presses as Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, etc. The content of the database is well paired with an advanced set of tools that allows for expansive searching capabilities, and manipulation and storage of text.
This database offers access to digitized books, including all of the titles produced by the Guttenberg Project. In addition, the University Libraries offers access to some 1,500 titles in business, computer science, and general reference.
Illinois' statewide library consortia--CARLI--recently purchased Springer publishing's collection of more than 2,000 medical books in electronic format. The extensive list of English language titles covers all medical fields and extends from 2005 to the present.
