Biomedical Librarians are experts at navigating the biomedical literature landscape. Biomedical Librarians at the NIH Library support NIH and HHS customers with basic and advanced literature search services by using databases licensed exclusively for NIH as well as publicly available information resources. The literature search service supports a wide range of information needs, including but not limited to:
- Evidence-based information to support patient care.
- Background literature searching (e.g., for grant applications or introductory sections of a manuscript).
- Comprehensive literature searches to support the production of book chapters, narrative overviews of a topic, or IRB/ACUC protocols.
NIH and HHS customers may request a literature search to schedule a consultation with a librarian to discuss your information needs. Your NIH Librarian will get in contact with you to schedule a time to meet.
If you want to reach out to your liaison librarian directly, please use our Find Your Librarian page.
Systematic Searches vs. Systematic Reviews
Researchers often use the term "systematic" when it comes to the kind of literature search they want. If you want to conduct a "systematic search" or comprehensive search of the literature that is thorough and potentially searches multiple databases, your IC’s NIH Librarian can work with you on this.
Alternatively, systematic reviews, a type of evidence synthesis review, require adherence to specific methodological standards. These are longer and more involved projects. For evidence synthesis reviews, you should consult our Evidence Synthesis service.
If you decide not to conduct an evidence synthesis review, consider a narrative review. A narrative review is a more flexible approach, allowing you to address a broad topic as a small team or individual author. NIH Librarians can help with those, too!
Writing a narrative review? These are 3 helpful articles to get you started in addition to working with a NIH Librarian:
- Cronin P, Ryan F, Coughlan M. Undertaking a literature review: a step-by-step approach. Br J Nurs. 2008;17(1):38-43. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2008.17.1.28059. PubMed PMID: 18399395.
- Harris D. Writing a literature review. Literature Review and Research Design: A Guide to Effective Research Practice. Oxford, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis Group; 2019. p. 137-55.
- Pautasso M. Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLoS Computational Biology. 2013;9(7). doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149. PubMed PMID: 23874189. [open access]