Find subject literature

Start your search at the University Library's home page to get access to all content the library subscribes to. Click "Find databases" below the Oria search field to find relevant databases.
Important databases and encyclopedias for medicine, dentistry and health sciences:

PubMed or Medline via Ovid: One of the most important databases for finding journal articles within medicine and health sciences. Accessible via various providers: PubMed or Medline via Ovid. 

Embase: References to research articles within medicine and health, particularly well coverage of pharmacology.

Web of Science: A multidisciplinary database which is very useful for searches beyond strictly clinical issues. Web of Science includes reference lists to all articles, enabling search for articles that cite a specific article.

UptoDate: Evidence-based clinical information for physicians in primary care and hospitals with practical answers about diagnosis and treatment. Updated continuously, includes information for patients.

BMJ Best Practice: Evidence-based clinical decision support resource for diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and prevention. It combines the latest research evidence, guidelines and expert opinion. Includes information for patients.

Take a look at the database list for medical and health sciences for more resources. 

You can also look for journals in Oria to check if the University Library has a subscription for them, either online or in print.

A steadily growing part of the University Library's book collection are eBooks. 
You have access to more than 400 000 eBooks via the University Library.
Read more about how to use eBooks

Printed books are shelved by topic in the library. You can find the shelf code in Oria. Use the "Locate" button to find the book's location in the library.

If you are missing a relevant book in our collection, you can suggest it for purchase.

Search in Oria:

When using the Advanced search you can choose to search in "Norwegian Academic Libraries". This includes material that is available at other subject and research libraries in Norway. Oria also links to a lot of material from open sources.

Tick the box "Include material your institution doesn't have access to" after performing a search to see material without access via the University Library. These documents can be requested.

You can find more search tips and information about how to request books and articles in the guide to Oria. Se also the guide where should I search.

Search in subject databases: 

It is common to search in subject databases by writing relevant search terms directly into a search field, receiving a list of articles containing these search terms. This type of search is called text word search, which can lead to good results if used in a structured manner.

Preferably use several synonyms in the text word search to get as many relevant articles as possible. A tidy way of searching is to search for one search term at a time and then combine the searches in the search history, using the operators AND and OR (use OR to combine synonyms).

Many databases use subject headings in addition to text word search, e.g. PubMed/MEDLINE, SveMed, EMBASE and CINAHL. This means that all articles in the database are tagged with subject headings describing the article's topic.

PubMed/MEDLINE uses Medical Subject Headings (MeSH), which can be looked up in the MeSH catalog of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The database is available in two different user interfaces. A search in PubMed is based on a word text seach including MeSH automatically, leading to fast search results. MEDLINE provides the option to select specific subject headings in advance to the search or to search for text words only. This results in a very tidy search history which can be used to build a structured search.

It is recommendable to search for subject headings and supply these with text words for comprehensive search on a topic.

When searching in databases/search engines, it is helpful to use the databases'/search engine's proper help pages about how to search.

You can read more about searching techniques on the websites Search and Write and PhD on Track.

Find full text via subject databases and Oria:
PubMed and other databases must be accessed from the University Library's web pages to get easy access to the full text. Accessing a database via our webpages enables the UBB-button to be displayed beside the references in the database. The UBB button links to the full text of the reference via Oria.
In Oria, you will find the link to the full text of the publication in the section called "View Online".

If the full text link is not available, you can sign in to Oria and request the article. For detailed information, see our help pages for sign in and searching Oria.

Due to copyright, requested article copies often have to be delivered physically. If you have an office address registered at the library we can send requested articles via internal mail. To request books or articles you must be registered as a library user or employee/student at UiB.

Access from home:
When working from home, you can connect to UiB's network by VPN. 
Employees at Helse Bergen have to contact their IT department to set up a home office solution.