Search in databases

The knowledge pyramid is a model that helps you decide what to search for and where to find it. Sources of summarised research are at the top of the pyramid, while sources of individual studies are at the bottom. Start as high up the pyramid as possible. You will find illustrations and information about source selection and the knowledge pyramid in the Health Library's online course on evidence-based practice: [Kunnskapsbasert praksis (helsebiblioteket.no)](https://www.helsebiblioteket.no/innhold/artikler/kunnskapsbasert-praksis/kunnskapsbasertpraksis.no#3litteratursok-32-kildevalg)

UpToDate | App | Guidance | National access (but outside Ahus via OpenAthens)
Diagnosis and treatment.

BMJ Best Practice | App | Guidance | National access
Diagnosis, aetiology, treatment, prognosis.
NB! The agreement ended on 1 April 2026, access until 31 May 2026.

NeuroNEL | Free, but requires registration
Updated knowledge on clinical neurology from the Norwegian Neurological Association.

Cochrane Clinical Answers | Access via Ahus/HSØ and OpenAthens
Specific clinical questions answered using research.

Pyramid Search | National access
Simultaneous search in UpToDate, BMJ Best Practice, ACP Journal Club, McMaster Plus. Recommended for quick look-ups; for more in-depth searches, you should search the databases individually.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health (Norway) - national professional guidelines

The Health Library's guidelines database (Norway/international) - clinical guidelines, manuals, and recommendations

Centre for Clinical Guidelines (Denmark)

The National Board of Health and Welfare: national guidelines (Sweden)

NICE Guidelines (UK) - British guidelines

TRIP (English-speaking/Europe) - a search platform for guidelines, but increasingly becoming inaccessible behind a paywall (the library does not have a subscription)

Guidelines International Network (G-I-N) - international guidelines

Cochrane Library | Guidance | Guidance (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ
Effect of interventions, as well as diagnostics and aetiology.

Epistemonikos | Guidance
Clinical questions.

IN SUM - mental health and wellbeing of children and young people

Campbell Library - education, social welfare, and crime prevention

OTseeker - occupational therapy

PEDro - physiotherapy

Pyramid Search | National access
Combined search, including systematic reviews from ACP Journal Club and McMaster Plus.

TRIP (English-speaking/Europe) - combined search for systematic reviews, but increasingly becoming inaccessible behind a paywall (the library does not have a subscription)

AMED - Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (Ovid) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ

APA PsycInfo (Ovid) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ
Psychiatry and psychology.

CINAHL (Ebsco) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/Health Library
Nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nutrition. You can also search in Medline via the same interface.

Embase (Ovid) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ
Medicine, health sciences, psychology/psychiatry. Particularly good coverage of pharmacology, general public health, substance abuse, environmental and occupational medicine. Covers many Western European journals not included in PubMed/Medline.

ERIC (Ebsco) | Access via Ahus or Health Library
Education and other education-related topics. Also available as ERIC (free version)

Google Scholar - all subject areas, citation search, find full text
Well suited for exploration and finding full text, but good academic/systematic searches should be conducted in other databases.

Idunn​ | Access via Ahus
Full-text articles from 82 Norwegian journals, as well as 83 freely available e-books.

Medline (Ovid) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ
Medicine, health sciences, psychology/psychiatry.
You can also search in Medline via Ebsco (same interface as CINAHL) or Medline via Clarivate (same interface as Web of Science)

Norart - Norwegian journal articles
NB! No longer updated, ceased in 2021.

PsycINFO (Ovid) | Guide (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/HSØ
Psychiatry and psychology.

PubMed | Guide (Norwegian)
Medicine, health sciences, psychiatry/psychology.

Scopus | Access via Ahus
Natural sciences, medicine, social sciences. Citation search.

SveMed+ - Scandinavian articles in medicine and health sciences
Please note that the database has not been updated since January 2020.
NB! The database is temporarily out of service until 3 September 2025.

Web of Science (Clarivate) | Access via Ahus
All subject areas. Citation search. Links to Journal Citation Reports (tool for journal statistics, impact factor). You can also search in Medline via the same interface.

Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy

OTseeker - occupational therapy

PEDro - physiotherapy

​Cinahl (Ebsco) | Guidance (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus/Health Library
Nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nutrition. You can also search in Medline via the same interface.

Medicines

IBM MicroMedex with Martindale | Apps | Access via Ahus/Health Library
International reference work on medicines.

Health Library's subject page: Medicines

KOBLE
Knowledge-based reference work on children's medicines, with information on dosing and use of medicines for children. Funded by the Ministry of Health and Care Services.

Pedagogy

ERIC (Ebsco) | Access via Ahus/Health Library
Pedagogy and other education-related topics. Also available as ERIC (free version)

Psychology and Psychiatry

APA PsycInfo (Ovid) | Guidance (Norwegian) | Access via Ahus
Psychiatry and psychology.​

IN SUM - systematic reviews on children's and adolescents' mental health and well-being.

Grey literature is information that is not published through traditional publishers and publishing channels, and is therefore often not found in academic databases. This can include reports, theses, guidelines, public publications, conference contributions, preprints, etc. Read more and see suggestions for resources and search services for grey literature: Grey literature (University Library at Karolinska Institutet)