Medline, also known as MEDLINE, is a comprehensive bibliographic database that encompasses a large collection of scholarly articles in the field of medicine and related health sciences. It is widely regarded as one of the most authoritative and frequently used resources for medical research.
Medline is produced by the National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is a part of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH). It covers a wide range of medical subjects, including clinical medicine, biochemistry, medical genetics, pharmacology, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and many others. The database includes articles from various sources such as medical journals, newspapers, magazines, and online publications.
With its extensive coverage, Medline provides researchers, physicians, healthcare professionals, and students with access to a wealth of information on medical literature. It allows users to search for articles based on keywords, medical subject headings (MeSH terms), authors, publication dates, and more. The database also offers abstracts (summaries) of articles and sometimes provides full-text versions as well.
Medline plays a critical role in evidence-based medicine and supports the practice of evidence-based healthcare. It is widely used to gather background information, conduct literature reviews, identify relevant studies, and inform medical decision-making. The database is regularly updated with new publications to ensure that users have access to the most recent and reliable information in the medical field.
