LibGuides: Biomedical Sciences: Websites

Subject websites

Anyone can publish content on the internet, carefully evaluate free information according to the following criteria:

Accuracy: Can you verify the facts provided on this site? Is a methodology stated?

Authenticity: Consider the author’s credentials. Is it academic discussion? Who owns the site?

Objectivity: Are arguments presented fairly? Is the information biased in its presentation?

Coverage: Is adequate detail provided? Is the information too basic, too complex or irrelevant?

Currency: Is the information time sensitive? When was this website last updated?

GenomeWeb
GenomeWeb LLC is an independent, privately-held online and print publisher based in New York. Since 1997, GenomeWeb has served the global community of scientists, technology professionals, and executives who use and develop the latest advanced tools in molecular biology research. Registration is free, but some services are only available on subscription.
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Gateway and database provided by the National Institutes for Health. Includes access to NCBI Bookshelf and PubMed Central
OncoLink
OncoLink was founded in 1994 by Penn cancer specialists with a mission to help cancer patients, families, health care professionals and the general public get accurate cancer-related information at no charge.
Protocol Online
Protocol Online is a database of research protocols in a variety of life science fields. It contains protocols contributed by worldwide researchers as well as links to web protocols hosted by worldwide research labs, biotech companies, personal web sites.
Reactome
REACTOME is an open-source, open access, manually curated and peer-reviewed pathway database.Pathway annotations are authored by expert biologists, in collaboration with Reactome editorial staff and cross-referenced to many bioinformatics databases
Scitable
Scitable is a free online resource for undergraduate educators and students. It’s built on a foundation of evidence-based, faculty-reviewed scientific overviews of key concepts compiled by the editorial staff of Nature. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics and cell biology.
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a charitably funded genomic research centre located in the UK. A leader in the Human Genome Project, the Institute is now focused on understanding the role of genetics in health and disease
Science research portal
A free, publicly available Internet web portal allowing access to numerous scientific journals and public science databases. Covers both comercial and free journal sources. DO NOT PAY for commercial sources - you may already have free access to it from the E-Journals Gateway.

Physical Sciences Data-Science Service (PSDS) This link opens in a new window
Physical Sciences Data-Science Service (PSDS) replaced the National Chemical Database Service (NCDS) during the summer of 2019. If you experience issues accessing the resources here, please let PSDS know at Contact us or support@psds.ac.uk.

To gain access to the PSDS, please register your details and your Brunel University email address. The Physical Sciences Data-science Service is a National Research Facility which brings together tools and resources for UK researchers in physical sciences, including chemistry, crystallography, materials and related fields. It provides access to web-based data services are which are freely accessible for academic users from the UK. Further information about the PSDS, including terms and conditions can be found on the About page and Learning page.

To cite the Service in a publication or on the internet, please state: "We wish to acknowledge the use of the EPSRC funded Physical Sciences Data-science Service hosted by the University of Southampton and STFC." Continued provision of the Service does rely on its relevance to the community, so please do acknowledge the Service when appropriate.
Alternative link (if main link doesn't work)

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Provides a directory of free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.
Free Medical Journals
A site that brings together links to most medical journals which are available free of charge and provide full text, some have 6-12 month delays before the free coverage starts.
PubMed Central
US government resource giving free, full-text access to a number of major international periodicals.
BioMed Central
Open access journals in the fields of medicine and biology.
Free Books 4 Doctors
Free electronic access to over 600 books. Be aware - these may not be the latest edition.
PLoS - Public Library of Science
The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource. Titles in our subject area include: PLoS Biology and PLoS Genetics.

In order to illustrate course work, presentations or posters you might want to use medical images. There are a number of sources of images online.

Just remember you might need to check the site for information about copyright restrictions. Not all images online are freely available. Sometimes you need to seek the publishers/site authors permission to use the image or acknowledge your source in your work.

Health on the Net Foundation

This is a not for profit foundation which currently has almost 7000 medical images and videos. It is a growing resource although and has a strength in anatomy and diseases.

Wellcome Images

This site offers both historical and contemporary high quality images for study. Contributors to the site include leading research institutions and health bodies and it has good coverage of areas like diseases, general healthcare and biosciences.

Web search tips

Google Scholar. Try using this to limit your search to scholarly sources.

Google Advanced Search. You can search within a particular domain eg .gov.uk. This will limit your search to UK government publications.

Or, instead of searching the Internet, go directly to the source. We have selected some websites here that could be useful to your search.

"Double quotation marks". If you're searching for the title of a document or searching for a phrase, enclose your search in "double quotation marks".