As a BMA member, you can access the Medline and Embase databases anytime to run your own searches.
Medline is the world’s best-known medicine and clinical science database, holding over 25 million references, from over 5,000 journals.
Embase is a leading clinical medicine and biomedical database and holds around 28 million records.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of our daily lives, and unsurprisingly in the Evidence Support team, we have noticed an increase in requests for evidence related to the pandemic and the impact it has had on different areas in the medical profession. To make it easier to find this evidence, Medline and Embase have installed a filter that can be applied to your search strategy to retrieve relevant papers.
To get started, please follow the steps below:
- From the library homepage, click on Access Medline and Embase. You may be prompted to login with your email and password if you haven’t already logged in to the BMA website.
2. From the window below, check the box next to OVID MEDLINE ALL or Embase, depending on which database you would like to search, and then click on OK.
3. After constructing your search strategy, locate the COVID-19 filter beneath the search box. Check the box next to it and click on Search.
4. The COVID-19 filter will then be applied to your search strategy. The below example is on how the mental health of the elderly has been affected during the coronavirus pandemic. The COVID-19 filter has been applied on line 8.
UPDATED 03/11/2022: all of the access links and content in this blog post checked and updated accordingly.
The Library Online Catalogue offers a range of options for accessing content in our e-journals collection.
We still offer an A to Z browse list of titles, but you will notice that there is now also the facility to search by category using the expandable lists of medical specialties available on the left hand side of the screen. There is also the facility to search for keywords in the title of a journal using the search box at the top of the page which as you type presents a google-like auto-complete list of suggestions based on the titles available in our collection:
You can now also search directly for journal articles from the main search page of the online catalogue. Just enter a few keywords or phrases, run the search and then limit to just journal article results using the Resource Type > Articles limiter on the left hand side navigation:
It is also possible to conduct a keyword search of articles within a particular journal. First search for and open the full record entry of the particular journal you wish to search within and then use the search box labelled Search Inside:
If you have the citation details of a particular article, in particular the DOI or PMID for it, you can use our Search by Citation facility to very quickly and easily see if it is available in our collection:
You don’t need to fill in all of the elements on the form, just enough to identify the particular article you are looking for. If you have either the DOI or the PMID of the article then just entering one of these alone should be sufficient.
If you have any comments or queries about accessing our e-journals please email: e-journals@bma.org.uk
UPDATED 20/12/2023: all of the access links and content in this blog post checked and updated accordingly.
Get access to e-books and e-journals by using the Library’s Online Catalogue. Sign in and then search or browse for the title you are looking for.
To search for the following:
- ebooks: enter a title, keyword, subject or ISBN
- ejournals: enter the name of the journal or ISSN
- articles: enter the title of the article
Available resources are displayed in the search results with an Available Online link that you can click to read online or download for later.
- You can also sort your results by relevance, subject, resource type etc.
From the list of items, you can:
- Click links for Full text availability (if shown) to gain access.
Interlibrary loan service (Journal article requests)
If an item is not held in our collection, you can request an Inter Library Loan via this link: order an article form. We will try to obtain the article from the British Library, and then send it to you by standard email as a TIF file. For any further enquiries, please email bma-library@bma.org.uk
UPDATED 20/12/2023: all of the access links and content in this blog post checked and updated accordingly.
Google Scholar can be used to search for scholarly information on the internet, including articles, books, conference papers, and theses. Some of the results will have a link to articles that are freely available, but we have now made it possible for you to see at a glance what articles are also available through the BMA library, ensuring you don’t miss any relevant articles for your research.
To be able to access the articles, you will need to first set up access to BMA Library on your Google Scholar account by following the steps below:
- Navigate to the Google Scholar website on your browser: https://scholar.google.com/Google Scholar
- Click on the navigation menu icon
- Click on ‘Settings‘:
- Click on ‘Library links‘:
- Search for any of the following terms: ‘BMA Library‘, ‘British Medical Association Library‘, ‘BMA‘
- In the search results, select ‘British Medical Association Library – Access-Now@BMA-Library‘
- Click on the ‘Save’ button
After the BMA Library is added once to your Google Scholar account, when you search on Google Scholar for an article that is available on our catalogue, you will find a link titled ‘Access-Now@BMA-Library‘ next to the search result:
Clicking on the ‘Access-Now@BMA-Library‘ link directs you to our catalogue to access the full text of the article:
If you have any queries or feedback about this, please get in touch with us by email at: e-journals@bma.org.uk
Due to the COVID-19 situation and the closure of BMA House, all books that are on loan to BMA members have been automatically renewed. There will be no charges during this period.
If you wish to return any books, there are two options available:
- Send the books back to us via the Post Office. (Please make sure you obtain a proof of postage receipt). Please use the book return or freepost label that was included when the book was loaned, or if you do not have these labels anymore, please use the following address:
BMA Library, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP
2. If you would like to return loaned books personally to BMA House, you can do so by heading to the book drop box at the front of BMA House (Security) in Tavistock Square. Security is staffed Monday-Sunday 08:00-18:00.
Please be aware that BMA House remains closed to members and you can only return books to the book drop box at front of house security.
UPDATED 20/12/2023: all of the access links and content in this blog post checked and updated accordingly.
In line with our e-first strategy, we have been updating our e-books collection. We have purchased 500+ new e-books to match popular titles in our print collection.
All our e-books can be found on our online catalogue
Our e-book collection ensures that our content is accessible to all BMA members regardless of your location. You will not be restricted by the number of copies per book and there are no waiting times to access our most popular titles.
Our content is available on a variety of platforms including: VLebooks, EBSCOhost, ClinicalKey, and Wiley Online Library.
We provide access to thousands of e-books; here are some of the popular titles and collections you can find on our catalogue:
The challenges of the pandemic forced us all to work in new ways, and in BMA Library’s instance, this meant reviewing strategy and taking the opportunity to improve services for members.
Thanks to the new e-first strategy, members are now able to access more resources and support than ever before via the BMA library webpage. And because everything is now online, all members have the same access, no matter where they are based.
Make light work of finding what you need.
Search the collection using our new catalogue to access thousands of e-books and other collections
Access thousands of e-journals including JAMA, The Lancet, and Nature.
Enjoy free access to ClinicalKey and ClinicalKey Student. Use this powerful clinical search engine for the latest evidence and point-of-care support
Search Medline and Embase, the world leading clinical medicine and biomedical bibliographic databases, with full text linking to our current subscriptions
Can’t find or access a resource – tell us what you are looking for and we will try and help
UPDATED 03/11/2022: all of the access links and content in this blog post checked and updated accordingly.
We are pleased to announce that access to Clinical Key for BMA members is now permanent.
In addition to this, we are now also offering access to ClinicalKey Student
For further details on both of these fantastic online resources, including how to access them, please see the following dedicated new page on the BMA website: https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-library/clinicalkey
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