Embase - Medline - PsycInfo OVID en: Start

This guide provides instructions on how to search in the databases—Embase, Medline, and PsycInfo—using the OVID interface.

Embase
Focuses on health sciences, with particular strength in pharmacology.
Note: Embase includes content from Medline but also offers additional indexed material.

Medline
Covers a broad range of topics within the health sciences, including medicine, nursing, and public health.

PsycInfo
Specializes in psychology and related disciplines.
Includes journal articles, doctoral dissertations, books, selected book chapters, and reports.

Each database uses its own thesaurus (subject index) to support structured searching.

Search Examples
All examples in this guide are based on Embase, but the same principles and syntax can be applied to Medline and PsycInfo.

For more detailed guidance on searching within the health sciences, please refer to our Guide to Health Sciences

To begin your topic search  in Ovid, it’s recommended to use the “Map Term to Subject Heading” feature. This helps you identify relevant subject headings and discover additional useful keywords.

Instruction:
Go to Advanced Search. Ensure the checkboxes for both: Map Term to Subject Heading and Keyword are selected.Type your keyword in the box and click Search.

In this example, Heart valve has been searched for

You receive the image below, it shows that "Heart Valve" is a controlled keyword in the subject index:

When you click on a keyword, a thesaurus view will appear. Here's how to interpret the image:

Used For – These are synonyms or alternative terms for heart valve.
Broader Terms – These represent more general categories that include heart valve.
Narrower Terms – These are more specific subcategories under heart valve.
Explode Checkbox - When selected, this option automatically includes all narrower terms in your search. You will also search any subtopics for the narrower terms. In this example, there are narrower terms for ‘atrioventricular valve’ and ‘semilunar valve’, as indicated by the +NT marking.

To continue your search, click the Continue button at the top of the thesaurus view.

You receive the picture below:

The first search result is displayed below. It was initiated using the thesaurus, as indicated by the slash following heart valve. This shows that the term was selected as a controlled keyword from the thesaurus.