Guides: Searching for Animal Alternatives: 2. Select Databases

Searching for Animal Alternatives

Resources on the Web

Animal Welfare Act & Regulations
PDF of the "Blue Book" from the USDA (2019)
Animal Care Policy Manual
2015 Edition from the USDA and APHIS
Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC)
The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) is mandated by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) to provide information for improved animal care and use in research, testing, and teaching.

Core Databases

Ovid MEDLINE This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts to the biomedical literature, including the allied health fields and the biological and physical sciences, humanities, and information science as they relate to medicine and health care. Added functionality available with personal account. Good for foreground questions.
Large Collection.
1946-Present.
Updated Daily.
PubMed (MEDLINE) This link opens in a new window
PubMed is comprised of millions of citations for the biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Also provides access to other National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) services for biomedical and genomic information. Added functionality available with personal account. Good for foreground questions.
Large Collection.
Updated daily.
1996-Present
Embase This link opens in a new window
Biomedical research and pharmacology citations and abstracts. Added functionality available with personal account.
Large collection.
1947-Present.
Updated daily
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary citation database that also includes conference proceedings. There will be some overlap with MEDLINE.
Large Collection
1970-Present
Updated Daily
National Agricultural Library This link opens in a new window
Citations, abstracts, monographs, and audiovisual content encompassing all aspects of agriculture and allied disciplines.
Large collection.
15th century - Present.
Updated daily.
ALTBIB This link opens in a new window
Provides access via PubMed to research on the use of alternatives to animal testing for biomedical research and toxicity testing. Includes in vitro and computational methods to predict toxicity, as well as approaches to refining animal use for study types that still require animals.
Large database.
2000-Present.
Updated as needed.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect contains full text articles related to medicine and the sciences from hundreds of journals published by Elsevier and its subsidiaries.
Large Collection.
1823-Present
Updated frequently

Other Databases

AWI Enrichment and Refinement Databases
From the Animal Welfare Institute, these databases "are freely accessible and disseminate information on all aspects of species-appropriate housing and species-appropriate handling of animals in research laboratories. One database deals with nonhuman primates, and the other with rodents, rabbits, cats, dogs, ferrets, farm animals, horses, birds, fishes, amphibians and reptiles."

Dahlgren Memorial Library

Searching for Animal Alternatives

Resources on the Web

Core Databases

Other Databases