Resources for medicine and dentistry

The University Library offers subject-specific databases and clinical reference works for students and staff at the Faculty of Medicine, as well as staff at Helse Bergen. The University Library also provides access to a large number of medical journals. The Medical library offers courses and guidance in literature searching and reference management.

Key databases and services

Databases, courses and services at the Medical library

Databases and reference works

Databases

PubMed / Medline via Ovid – a central database for articles in medicine and the health sciences
Embase – medical articles with particularly good coverage of pharmacy
Web of Science – articles in medical and health, science, social science, arts & humanities; with citation searching
Cochrane Library – Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), Cochrane Trials and Clinical Answers. Cochrane Trials covers quality-assessed individual studies, and Cochrane Clinical Answers is an easy-to-read collection of answers to clinical questions based on Cochrane Systematic Reviews.
Epistemonikos – systematic reviews on clinical questions
Database overview for medicine and health sciences (Oria)

Clinical resources and guidelines

UpToDate – a knowledge-based clinical reference work, mainly on diagnosis and treatment
NEL – Norsk elektronisk legehåndbok – for UiB-affiliated users only
The Pyramid Search (McMaster / helsebiblioteket.no) – searches across quality-assessed databases. The PLUS section is especially valuable, where employees at McMaster University have quality-assessed and included summaries and individual studies according to a set of criteria.
National and international guidelines (helsebiblioteket.no)

Courses at the Medical library

Online courses, open courses and tailored courses

The Medical library offers online courses. These can be used for self-study or as support and reference after you have attended a library course.

Study tips from the library (UB MED 101)
Finding your syllabus? Writing references? Finding articles? Or using the library? See our short course with tips on things students often wonder about.
Literature searching in medical databases (UB MED 102)
The course covers preparing for a literature search, and the three major subject databases PubMed, Embase and Web of Science. The skills you learn in the course can be transferred to other databases.
Literature assignments in medicine and health sciences (UB MED 103)
The course is for students who are to write a literature-based assignment as their bachelor's or master's thesis. The course consists of various modules that can help you in your work on a literature assignment in medicine and the health sciences. The final module is for supervisors.

Open courses autumn 2026

The Medical library runs the following courses in autumn 2026.

Literature assignments for students (in Norwegian), 2 September 11.15–12, Zoom
Literature searching in PubMed & Embase (in Norwegian), 9 September 9.15–12, Zoom
Introduction to Zotero (in Norwegian), 16 September 10.15–12, Zoom

For the courses held in Norwegian, please find more information on the Norwegian web pages.

The following courses are held in English. Please find more information and link for registration:

Tailored courses and visits at your department

Do your research group or employees at your department need a refresher in literature searching, an overview of subject-relevant databases, or reference management? We are happy to visit you. Please contact us by email to plan the details.

Literature searching and guidance

At the Medical library you can get practical help and guidance with literature searching, among others for:

scholarly articles, project applications, the synopsis of a doctoral thesis
clinical procedures and mini health technology assessments

The library helps you find relevant databases, carry out structured searches, manage references and obtain full-text access. Request a guidance session from the library

If you are going to write a systematic review, the employees at the Medical library can help you with literature searches, and with tips and advice in the working process.

Books and journals in the library

The Medical library has a large collection of books and journals, both electronic and printed. The books are shelved by subject; see Library of Medicine for a general overview. Printed journals are shelved alphabetically by title. All electronic documents are easy to find in the library catalogue Oria.

Kristin Chisholm Valeur Børresen · Malik Beglerovic · Regina Küfner Lein · Christine Tarlebø Mjøs · Barbara Hammer · Ida Sofie Karlsen Sletten · Tore Brekke · Michael Høgh

For employees at Helse Bergen

Employees at Helse Bergen have the same access to electronic literature as employees at UiB (with few exceptions). This applies from computers on the hospital network or via the hospital's remote-working solution.

PubMed and other databases must be opened from the library's database overview (external link) to access full-text links (the UBB button / Access Options@UiB)

To order articles, log in to Oria with your library card number (e.g. ubbXXXXXXX). Drop by the Medical library to get a user account and library card.

Remote working: contact the IT department at Helse Bergen for a VPN solution, or see Accessing e-resources from your own device if you also have a UiB account.

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Medical library

Last updated: 03.07.2026

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