CINAHL
The core index for nursing and allied health literature.
At a Glance
- Publisher
- EBSCO
- Coverage
Millions of records from 5,000+ journals in nursing, allied health, biomedicine, and healthcare, with indexing back to 1937 (verify current counts).
- Access
Institutional subscription via EBSCOhost.
- Free alternative
- PubMed, Google Scholar.
- Regional
Global; the standard nursing and allied-health index.
Our Take
CINAHL is the nursing and allied-health counterpart to PubMed — the field-standard index with its own controlled vocabulary tuned to nursing, physiotherapy, and allied disciplines that biomedical indexes cover unevenly. For evidence synthesis in nursing and allied health it is essential alongside PubMed. The limits: paid, EBSCO-only, and discipline-specific. Use it for comprehensive nursing and allied-health reviews; always pair with PubMed so you do not miss the biomedical side.
Power Tips
- Search CINAHL Subject Headings, not just keywords, for systematic-review rigor.
- Always run the same review in PubMed too — coverage overlaps but neither is complete.
- Use the evidence-based-practice and peer-reviewed filters to focus.
Alternatives & Complements
PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus
Figures last verified: June 15, 2026