The Sheridan Libraries

Public Health

Articles, books, statistics, how to cite references, and more information about the multidisciplinary field of public health.

Is My Information Reliable?

Your professors, employers, and colleagues will always need to know

  • whether you used information that was scholarly and dependable, and
  • where you found your information

The Evaluating Information guide will show you how to evaluate the reliability of information.

The Citing guide will show you how to list those information sources correctly and completely, so that others can find them.

 

Here is another way to evaluate information: always apply the CRAAP test to web sites or documents whose trustworthiness you are not sure about:

  • currency
  • relevance
  • authority
  • accuracy
  • purpose

Search for Journal Articles, News, Conference Papers, and More

Why Should I Use a Database to Find Articles or Other Information?

---Because databases are designed to save your time. They have many ways to focus your searches -- for example, you can put your search words in the title, abstract, or other fields; get exactly the years that you want; use subject headings so you don't miss anything; find a particular kind of document (e.g., review article); and many other ways.

---All of the references (citations) that you find will be correct, unlike generative AI tools which are known for being terrible with references. (Google Scholar is also good with references, but only gives a few ways to focus your search, so it can take time to find what you want.)


How Do I Find Databases?
 

1. Library home page --> Databases

2.  Click "Browse list of databases"


 

3. Choose a subject to see the databases with information about it. (Or, put the name of a specific database into the top box.) 


 

4. In each list, "Core" databases are at the top -- start with those, which are the best and most relevant 

5. In addition to the usual databases such as PubMed, APA PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, Statista, and PolicyMap, remember to try more specialized databases; for example:

In addition to the news itself, news items can also provide the names of information sources about your topics.
For business news: the best database is ABI/INFORM, and the other two under CORE
  • Library home page --> Databases by Topic --> Business --> CORE
What are people saying?
  • Polling the Nations -- Questions and responses from more than 12,000 national, state, local, and special surveys, conducted by 700 polling organizations in the United States and 70 other countries, from 1986 through the present.
    (Only 4 people at a time can use this database.)
     
  • Roper iPoll -- "Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. You can search for datasets by keyword, country, surveying agency, timeframe, and type of sample.
    --- Users "that have an email address with the extension @jhu.edu can self-register by clicking on the Account icon and selecting "Log In", although registration is no longer necessary to search or download when connected to the campus network. Pre-existing login credentials will not provide access to this new Roper iPoll, so you will have to create a new account.
     
  • PubMed -- To the left of your search results, under Article Type --> Customize --> "See all article type filters" (UNcheck anything that's checked) --> check Editorial and Letter
Who has cited this article and may therefore be doing related work?
How many times has this article been cited?

When you find a great article about your topic, you can also see all of the later articles which cited that article.

If your favorite article was cited by someone else, there is a good chance that the citing author -- that is, the person who mentioned your favorite article -- is doing similar work. (Remember that very new articles will not have had time to be cited by a lot of other authors.)

Databases that tell you the citing authors, and how many times an article has been cited, are:

  1. Scopus -- (see screen shots below)
  2. Web of Science -- (see screen shots below)
  3. Google Scholar -- Under each item on the left, it gives the number of citations
    NOTE: Google Scholar's number will always be too high, because it adds additional things such as lecture notes and Powerpoint slides.


Scopus: Do your search, change the Sort to "Cited by (highest)," and click the number under "Cited by" next to your article:


Web of Science: Always use Advanced Search!  Enter the author of your favorite article using "Cited References"  (which is under "Documents"). For common names, use "add a row" so that you can enter some keywords.

 

On the results page, click on "Citing Articles, making sure the arrow points down so you start with the highest number. Then click on the linked number next to the article to see all of the articles that cited it. 

 

OPIOIDS

Maryland's Office of Overdose Response -- Part of the Maryland Department of Health, this site includes the Maryland Overdose Data Dashboard.

Opioid Industry Document Archive -- Contains "emails, memos, presentations, sales reports, budgets, audit reports, Drug Enforcement Administration briefings, meeting agendas and minutes, expert witness reports, and depositions of drug company executives." (Joint project of University of California, San Francisco and Johns Hopkins)

Start here.

News about the Archive from the JHU Hub

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TOBACCO

Truth Tobacco Industry Documents archive -- "An archive of 14 million documents created by tobacco companies about their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, scientific research and political activities." (University of California, San Francisco Library)

 

These are tools for coding your systematic review articles. For help, please contact Lori Rosman at the Welch Library.

Covidence

Rayaan (free) -- Scroll down for tutorial

RedCap (fee-based)

RevMan (used by Cochrane) -- This tool is really not for reviewing citations and creating data abstraction forms, but rather for use with your final product

  • Last Updated: Sep 8, 2025 10:40 AM
  • URL: https://guides.library.jhu.edu/public-health
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Subjects: Health & Medicine