Access for Libraries

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Libraries are a trusted information space. Build on public knowledge with Examine.

Health disinformation is everywhere. Especially in the world of supplements and nutrition — it’s incredibly difficult to find unbiased information based on scientific evidence. But with Examine in your toolkit, you can help build health literacy in your community. Since 2011, our team of over 30 researchers has been tracking, categorizing, and analyzing tens of thousands of nutrition and supplement studies in order to help our readers be healthier. We have no industry ties, accept no advertising or sponsorship, and we never use AI to create our information.

  • When the patron calls who “saw that thing about ashwagandha on TikTok,” where can you send them?
  • When you get a reference chat question from a student who “heard that creatine is good to use in sports,” how can you support them?
  • When a patron has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and hasn’t been referred to a dietician, what truly reliable information can the library provide them?


The content that Examine provides includes:

  • Health taxonomy connecting 25 categories, 400+ conditions and goals, and 1,000+ health outcomes and metrics to over 500 interventions, primarily based on nutrition and supplementation.
  • Answers to over 1,500 frequently asked questions about health.
  • Study Summaries: quick breakdown of 150+ new nutrition studies every month.
  • Examine Database: collated research and efficacy grades on over 10,000 human in vivo studies. For example, creatine.
  • Supplement Guides: step-by-step directions on what to take, when to take it, and how much to take for different health goals.
  • Citations for all claims and results.
  • Easy and robust search function.
  • Image and video tutorials showing how to use Examine to the fullest. Click here for a video guide from one of our researchers!

All content on Examine is specifically written to be clear and easy to understand. We translate scientific and academic writing into everyday language that makes it accessible to patrons.

Does Examine have any conflicts of interest?

We have over 30 researchers on the team — MDs, RDs, PharmDs, and more — and strict contractual obligations to ensure zero conflicts of interest. Our readers can trust us because 100% of our revenue comes from subscription revenue. We have no ads, sponsorships, consulting, services, physical products, and we do not recommend or partner with specific brands.

How do you find and evaluate clinical trials?

To collect studies, the research team uses several hundred PubMed search strings, each focusing on a specific intervention, health condition, or measurable health outcome. The team also pays close attention to trending topics, so our readers are always up to date on the latest news in health and nutrition.

We have a few systematic review specialists on the team who create these search strings, and we also contract with a librarian who has a master’s in nutrition to help us fine-tune and update the search strings over time to ensure we don’t miss any new information.

The process is similar to the methods used by federally designated Evidence-based Practice Centers that conduct systematic reviews.

The search strings are automatically run at least once a month to collect new studies, which are put into a queue for data extraction. We learn about potential new topics to cover by searching the highest-impact journals in several different nutrition and supplement related fields, surveying users about once a quarter, and following clinicaltrials.gov as well as the social media accounts of researchers. We also communicate with people at Cochrane and a couple other centers on occasion to make sure we’re on the right track.

How easy is it to set up Examine+ access?

Incredibly easy.

We can provide access based on IP, and can authenticate and work with either EZproxy or OpenAthens.

We can also provide customized signup links to limit access to only approved accounts.

We have an experienced in-house web development team and can customize to any technological specifications.

Plus, our pricing is designed to make it an easy decision to implement Examine in your library. Because we own all of our content, and don’t license anything, we can be incredibly flexible on pricing and contract terms.

In a world where health misinformation is everywhere, and finding what’s true, based on the existing evidence, is becoming more and more difficult, Examine is providing regular people with a way to understand scientific research, and apply it to their own lives.

How does Examine compare with other similar resources?

Examine is unique! There’s a reason we’re difficult to categorize on Wikipedia. There’s no other 100% independent organization focused on health research that speaks directly and transparently to the public. Our closest competitor is NatMed Pro, a database that provides pharmaceutical information to medical professionals. Learn more about the differences here.

Examine listed under Other in Wikipedia

Can we have a trial of Examine+ in the library?

Please contact Heather[at]examine.com to sign up for a free 30-day trial for your library and get a price quote.