Stephen B.

Thacker CDC Library

COVID-19 Databases and Journals

Updated July 15, 2020

COVID-19 Research Guide Below are selected databases and journals to help researchers find scholarly articles about
Home COVID-19 (2019 Novel Coronavirus).

• NEW: Research • NEW: Research articles downloadable database

Articles ◦ The Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library is systematically searching the literature
Downloadable and compiling a downloadable database of research articles and grey literature
Database on COVID-19 for researchers. Updates are posted on Friday.
• Databases and
Journals Some databases and journals are accessible only to those with a CDC user id and
password.  Find a library near you that may be able to help you access similar resources by
• Search alerts:
clicking the following links: https://www.worldcat.org/libraries   OR
◦ Ovid
https://www.usa.gov/libraries  .
◦ PubMed
◦ Scopus Materials listed in these guides are selected to provide awareness of quality public health
literature and resources. A material’s inclusion does not necessarily represent the views of
◦ News
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Public Health Service (PHS),
• Secondary Data and
or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nor does it imply endorsement of
Statistics
the material’s methods or findings.
• Websites

Databases
• NEW: Research articles downloadable database
◦ The Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library is systematically searching the below
databases for COVID-19 literature and compiling a downloadable database of
research articles and grey literature on COVID-19 for researchers. Updates are
posted on Friday.

Open Access Databases:

• DisasterLit 
• ClinicalTrials 
• COVID-Evidence  : Compilation of clinical trials on COVID-19
• Europe PMC 
• NCBI Virus’ COVID-2019 data hub 
◦ GenBank COVID-2019 Sequences 
• PubMed 
 ◦ LitCovid 
◾ This database is compiled by the National Library of Medicine from
COVID-19 articles in PubMed. It is available for download.
• iSearch COVID-19 Portfolio 
◦ NIH’s comprehensive, expert-curated source for publications and preprints
related to either COVID-19 or the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
• WHO COVID-19 research article database 
◦ This database is compiled by the WHO and searches multiple databases.  It is
available for download.
• Public Health Genomics and Precision Health Knowledge Base
◦ This database provides up to date genomics and precision health information
on coronavirus disease.

Databases that require a CDC login to access:

• Ovid databases
◦ COVID-19 special collection  
◦ Medline  
◦ Embase 
◦ CAB Abstracts 
◦ Global Health 
◾ COVID-19 special collection  
• Cochrane Library 
◦ COVID-19 special collection relevant to critical care 
• COVID-19 Open Research Dataset 
◦ Open dataset on more than 45,000 articles related to coronaviruses intended
for use for researchers using natural language processing.  Includes more
than 33,000 full text articles on coronaviruses, including COVID-19.
• Science Direct 
• Scopus 
• Clarivate Analytics COVID-19 special collection 
• CINAHL 
• CDC Red Sky

Journals
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) affiliated journals (all are Open
Access):

• Emerging Infectious Diseases

• Morbidity or Mortality Weekly Report
◦ COVID-19
collection: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/Novel_Coronavirus_Reports.html
• Preventing Chronic Disease

Other journals (most have made COVID-19 articles Open Access, or free of charge,
while the pandemic is ongoing):
 • British Medical Journal 
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://www.bmj.com/coronavirus  
• China CDC Weekly  
• Copyright Clearance Center List 
◦ Copyright Clearance Center is compiling a list of publishers that are providing
articles, books, trainings, and other resources for free
• Eurosurveillance 
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/2019-ncov 


• Journal of the American Medical Association 

◦ COVID-19 collection:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/pages/coronavirus-alert 
• Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) 
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://info2.jove.com/coronavirusvideo 
• Nature
• The New England Journal of Medicine
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://www.nejm.org/coronavirus 
• Lancet
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://www.thelancet.com/coronavirus 
• Science 
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://www.sciencemag.org/collections/coronavirus 
• Retraction Watch 
◦ COVID-19 collection: https://retractionwatch.com/retracted-coronavirus-covid-
19-papers/ 

Disclaimer

Disclaimer
Materials listed in these guides are selected to provide awareness of quality public health literature and resources. A
material’s inclusion does not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), the Public Health Service (PHS), or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nor does it imply
endorsement of the material’s methods or findings. HHS, PHS, and CDC assume no responsibility for the factual
accuracy of the items presented. The selection, omission, or content of items does not imply any endorsement or
other position taken by HHS, PHS, and CDC. Opinion, findings, and conclusions expressed by the original authors of
items included in these materials, or persons quoted therein, are strictly their own and are in no way meant to
represent the opinion or views of HHS, PHS, or CDC. References to publications, news sources, and non-CDC Websites
are provided solely for informational purposes and do not imply endorsement by HHS, PHS, or CDC.

Page last reviewed: May 5, 2020

Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention