Evidence-based medicine (EBM)

includes almost fi ve million articles, two million of which are
provided free of charge.
MedlinePlus
www.nlm.nih.goc/medlineplus
MedlinePlus provides authoritative information from the US National
Library of Medicine and the US National Institutes of Health. It
provides easy access to journal articles, information about drugs, a
medical encyclopedia, patient tutorials and the latest health news.
(b) Open-access journals
Some research papers are available free of charge in journals called open-access
journals. These journals are peer-reviewed like other journals, but are available
online and free of charge.
Open Medicine
www.openmedicine.ca
Open Medicine is a Canadian independent, peer-reviewed, open-access
journal. Full articles are provided free of charge to the general public.
PLoS Medicine
http:medicine.plosjournals.org
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal (from the
Public Library of Science). Full articles are provided free of charge
to the general public.
Questions to ask
When you have found a study, ask yourself these questions to determine whether
or not the results of the study might apply to you or your family members.
1. What kind of study is it?
What is the study design? Where does it fi t on the evidence hierarchy? Does it
provide strong evidence or weak evidence? Remember, for clinical decisions,
randomized clinical trials and systematic reviews provide the best evidence.
2. Was the study conducted on animals or humans?
Research conducted on humans is more likely to apply to you than
research conducted on animals.
3. Did the study include people like you?
Check to see if the study participants were similar to you in age, sex,
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