Once you have identified particular resources that you need to use, it is always worthwhile seeing whether these resources are freely available on the internet.
The Library's Electronic Library web page provides a list of pharmacy-related journal titles, the full content of which is freely available on the internet. Some titles are open access, others are free - all make available their content to end users at no cost.
Other journal publishers provide selected content or abstracts for free on their websites. If you need a specific journal article, it is worth taking a look at the title's website to see if it has been made available for free. Some publishers also offer the option of purchasing access to individual articles or issues. Databases such as PubMed also link to free fulltext content where it is available, and this is a further route to identifying such articles.
The general directories below list open access journals, that is those journals that are free to the end-user. You may wish to set up bookmarks to your favourite titles. Several of the directories should be consulted, rather than just one directory, as the coverage of titles varies from directory to directory and there may not be enough overlap between directories to be able to rely on only one exclusively.
PubMed Central
About: the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
Use it to: find complete journal articles on the biomedical and life sciences in journals that make their full content available for free on the internet.
How: access is free.
UK PubMed Central (UKPMC)
About: based on PubMed Central, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature this resources provides a stable, permanent, and free-to-access online digital archive of full-text publications.
Use it to: access online digital archive of full-text, peer-reviewed research journal article and other publications.
How: search by keyword or browse by journal title.
Directory of Open Access Journals
About: covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, in all subjects and most languages.
Use it to: find complete journal articles on any subject in journals that make their full content available for free on the internet.
How: access is free.
Open J-Gate
About: covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals.
Use it to: find complete journal articles on any subject in journals that make their full content available for free on the internet.
How: access is free.
Free Medical Journals
About: promotes free access to medical journals over the internet. Its 'Journal Alert' feature enables you to be automatically updated about any new free titles that become available online.
Use it to: find complete journal articles specifically in the field of medicine in journals that make their full content available for free on the internet.
How: access is free.
Public Library of Science
About: a non-profit organisation providing free access to the world's scientific and medical literature.
Use it to: find complete journal articles specifically in the fields of science and medicine in journals that make their full content available for free on the internet.
How: access is free.
The Merck Manual series
About: a series of healthcare books for medical professionals and consumers: The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, The Merck Manual--Second Home Edition, The Merck Manual of Health & Aging, The Merck Manual of Geriatrics, The Merck Index (selected content) and The Merck Veterinary Manual (not the current edition). These are enhanced online versions forming part of The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library. This is updated periodically with new information, and contains photographs, and audio and video material not present in the print versions.
Use it to: find information on specific aspects of medicine and health.
How: the Manuals have a familiar book structure, but can also be searched using keyword.
See also: Clinical Information - Fulltext resources
The links below will help you discover what research is currently taking place in the UK. They cover conferences, current research and grey literature (informally published reports, etc.). While these resources are useful for providing an overview of what is available on a given subject, if you already know the source of the research or the issuing body of a report, it is often a more efficient use of time to go direct to the source's own website.
Directory of Published Proceedings
About: listing of literature published as a result of thousands of conferences, meetings and symposia.
Use it to: find the latest research being discussed in the medical and life sciences, as well as all other subjects. Also find details of future events in Mind: the meetings index.
How: search the databases by keyword, sponsor, country or date to retrieve details of published proceedings. Please note that this directory lists resources that are available to buy; the resources listed will not necessarily be freely available on the internet.
National Research Register
About: database of ongoing and recently completed research projects funded by, or of interest to, the NHS. 350 organisations including NHS Trusts, national and regional funding programmes, universities and charities, contribute to the database.
Use it to: find the latest (unpublished) research of relevance to medicine and health in the UK.
How: access to the database is open to all free of charge.
Grey Source
About: A selection of web-based resources that provide examples of grey literature. The index lists only web-based resources that explicitly refer to the term grey literature (literature that is not published commercially).
Use it to: find information that has not been formally published in any subject.
West Midlands Public Health Observatory
About: library of public health grey literature which is defined as documentary material that is not commercially published or generally available.
Use it to: find information that has not been formally published in the subject of health.
How: while the library has a West Midlands focus, there is an option to search across several of the nine Public Health Observatories simultaneously. PHOs
NY Academy of Medicine: Grey Literature Page
About: a U.S. resource that focuses on grey literature resources from the medical field and includes an extensive listing of agencies and organisations that produce health-related materials. The site also features a quarterly “Grey Literature Report,” listing many items that are available freely online.
Use it to: find grey literature in English in the subject of health. The focus is the US, but North American, UK and international sites are also included.
How: view the sites of individual grey literature providers in the A-Z listing, or access the bimonthly ‘Grey Literature Report’ to view grey literature recently added to the collection.
GrayLIT Network
About: as a portal for technical report information generated through federally funded research and development projects, it enables straightforward access to the grey literature of US Federal Agencies.
Use it to: find official, but unpublished literature of the US.
How: the individual databases that make up the portal can be searched singly or collectively, using the free text search tool.
There are a lot of dictionaries, encyclopaedias and other 'quick reference' tools available on the internet. Below are a few that you can use to return trustworthy results.
Royal College of General Practitioners acronym finder
About: Search for medical acronyms and abbreviations relating to both clinical terminology and medical organisations.
Use it to: check meanings for a particular acronym.
Online Medical Dictionary (UK)
About: searchable dictionary containing terms relating to biochemistry, cell biology, chemistry, medicine, molecular biology, physics, plant biology, radiobiology, science and technology. It includes: acronyms, jargon, theory, conventions, standards, institutions, projects, eponyms, history. It is distributed by CancerWEB under licence from Academic Medical Publishing.
Use it to: fully explore the terminology associated with the subjects of science and medicine.
Medline Plus Dictionary (US)
About: Medline Plus online dictionary that brings together authoritative information from NLM, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other government agencies and health-related organisations.
Use it to: find definitions of scientific and medical terms.
How: while this is a US dictionary, it does include British variant spellings.
Stedman's Online Medical Dictionary (US)
About: the online version of the respected Stedman's medical dictionary.
Use it to: find definitions of medical terms.
How: the search box is located towards the top of the homepage. This is a US dictionary and it does not recognise British variant spellings.
Medline Plus Encyclopedia (US)
About: The ADAM medical encyclopedia online includes over 4,000 articles. It also contains an extensive library of medical photographs and illustrations.
Use it to: find information about diseases, tests, symptoms, injuries, and surgeries.
How: the encyclopaedia is searchable by keyword and A-Z by the first letter of topic.