4 Reliable Essential Oil Databases You Need to Know

For an aromatherapist, essential oils are important. And, as you might have noticed in recent years, essential oil popularity is on the rise. With so many people venturing into the world of aromatherapy, it’s even more crucial for aromatherapists and essential oil enthusiasts to know where to go for reliable, research-based information on the oils we love.

As the ACHS Librarian, I love helping students find credible aromatherapy research. I’ve listed some of my favorite essential oil databases below. Take some time to explore these resources on your own, and have fun learning about the wonderful research around essential oils.

AromaWeb: Aromatherapy and Essential Oils

Founded in 1997 by ACHS graduate Wendy Robbins, AromaWeb is dedicated to supplying extensive information on essential oils and holistic aromatherapy. This website offers content such as:

For instance, check out this essential oil recipe for anxiety. AromaWeb even has a dedicated section to an essential oil “profile of the day.” This profile rotates daily with a new essential oil, including info on safety information, method of extraction, chemotypes, aromatic description, and more.

American Botanical Council – HerbalGram: Essential Oils

The American Botanical Council (ABC) is a nonprofit research and education organization that provides reliable information on plant-based products that support research. ABC has a dedicated site with resources such as HerbalGrams, monographs, an herbal database, and research dedicated specifically to essential oils. [3] A majority of these resources are available free to the general public, while some require a membership to be accessed. Here’s an article that immediately caught my eye: Clinical Aromatherapy: Essential Oils in Healthcare.

ScienceDirect – Essential Oils

ScienceDirect is a peer-reviewed, scholarly literature database that consists of full-text health, scientific, and technical publications. [4] While not specifically an essential oil resource, ScienceDirect has an extensive amount of research articles dedicated to essential oils. Using keywords essential and oils in the basic search box, I was able to locate approximately 282,000 free research articles on essential oils! Try the search for yourself; did you find an aromatherapy article that interested you?

PubMed Central (PMC) – Essential Oils

Last, but not least, I wanted to share the open access database PubMed Central (PMC), with you. PMC is a “free archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine…As an archive, PMC is designed to provide permanent access to all of its content” [5]. Similar to ScienceDirect, PMC is not a dedicated essential oil resource, but it does contain a vast amount of essential oil research articles that are free to the public. So, if you are diving into that research paper on essential oils, this might be a good resource for you. For instance, check out this interesting essential oil research article on Commercial essential oils as potential antimicrobials to treat skins diseases.

Now get out there and start searching!

If you need any help further researching essential oils, please do not hesitate to contact me at librarian@achs.edu.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent disease. This article has not been reviewed by the FDA. Always consult with your primary care physician or naturopathic doctor before making any significant changes to your health and wellness routine.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am an Online Instructional Design Librarian for American College of Healthcare Sciences, the Institution that publishes this blog. However, all opinions are my own. This blog may contain affiliate links. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

References

[1]. AromaWeb (2017). What are essential oils? Retrieved from https://www.aromaweb.com/articles/whatare.asp

[2] AromaWeb (2017) Home. Retrieved from https://www.aromaweb.com/default.asp

[3] American Botanical Council (2016). About the american botanical council. Retrieved from http://abc.herbalgram.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Us

[4]. ScienceDirect (2017). What is sciencedirect? Retrieved from https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/sciencedirect

[5] PubMed Central (2011). PMC overview. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/intro/