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CINAHL Ultimate is the highest tier of CINAHL, the nursing and allied health database that EBSCO publishes on the EBSCOhost platform. EBSCO describes it as “the definitive resource for nursing and allied health research”, with the most full-text journals of any CINAHL version. This guide explains what the tier contains, how it differs from the other CINAHL tiers, and why a literature-review team should name the tier it searched. All counts below are from EBSCO’s own pages, checked on 2026-10-29.
What CINAHL Ultimate is
CINAHL Ultimate is one of four CINAHL products sold by EBSCO Information Services. EBSCO announced it on 5 May 2022 alongside MEDLINE Ultimate, and described it as the largest collection of top-ranked nursing and allied health literature it offered. The four tiers, from largest to smallest, are CINAHL Ultimate, CINAHL Complete, CINAHL Plus with Full Text and CINAHL with Full Text.
The tiers differ in how many active full-text journals EBSCO lists for each (table below).
Who runs it and what it covers
EBSCO Information Services produces and sells CINAHL Ultimate. Its product page says the database covers more than 50 nursing specialties. Subject indexing uses CINAHL Subject Headings, which EBSCO says follow the structure of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) used by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Beyond journal articles, the product page lists several non-journal resources that come with the Ultimate tier:
- Evidence-based care sheets, quick lessons and continuing education modules (EBSCO publishes lists of each).
- 324 nursing instructional videos, covering topics such as newborn and NICU care, caring for terminally ill patients and pre- and post-operative care of orthopedic patients.
- Visual Health Information, eight structured exercise libraries for orthopedic, geriatric and specialty rehabilitation needs.
- Research instruments (named in both the product page and the 2022 announcement).
The product page counts 1,570 active open access journals that EBSCO says it has validated, subject-indexed and linked to full text.
Tier by tier: why the name of the tier matters
EBSCO publishes four measures for each tier. They show how far apart the tiers are, and they are the reason that “we searched CINAHL” is not a reproducible description of a search.
| Tier | Active full-text journals and magazines | Peer-reviewed | Peer-reviewed, no embargo | Indexed in Web of Science or Scopus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CINAHL Ultimate | 1,892 | 1,717 | 1,416 | 1,027 |
| CINAHL Complete | 708 | 591 | 439 | 455 |
| CINAHL Plus with Full Text | 375 | 300 | 202 | 264 |
| CINAHL with Full Text | 315 | 251 | 177 | 223 |
Source: EBSCO, CINAHL Ultimate product page, checked 2026-10-29. Counts are EBSCO’s current figures and change over time.
Two searchers at different institutions can both report “CINAHL via EBSCOhost” and have different full-text holdings. For a systematic review, report the product tier, the platform (EBSCOhost), the date of the search and the full search string, and keep the tier consistent if the search is later updated. The mechanics of building that search (headings, explode, major concept, limiters) are in CASRAI’s CINAHL search strategy guide, which this page does not repeat.
Then and now: the 2022 launch figures
The 5 May 2022 announcement gave launch-time figures: by June 2022 the collection would include more than 920 active, full-text, non-open-access journals and more than 3,700 active indexed journals, with full text back to 1962 and indexing back to 1937. It also cited 170 continuing education modules at launch.
These figures are not directly comparable with today’s product page. The 2022 count excludes open access journals, while the current headline figure of 1,892 is “active full-text journals and magazines” and EBSCO counts open access titles separately. Treat the 2022 numbers as a dated snapshot, and take current holdings from the product page or from your library’s EBSCO administrator. EBSCO’s pages do not state a current total of indexed journals.
How to find it and search it
CINAHL Ultimate is delivered on EBSCOhost. The product page describes a licensed product, with a retail value of $490,434.10 stated for its active full-text, non-open-access journals, and does not describe a free version. Whether you can open it depends on what your library or organisation licenses, so the usual starting point is your library’s database list.
For controlled-vocabulary searching with CINAHL Headings combined with keywords, see the CINAHL search strategy guide for the steps, and Boolean search operators for literature searching for the operators.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- The largest full-text journal set of the four CINAHL tiers, by every measure EBSCO publishes: 1,892 against 708 for CINAHL Complete.
- Nursing-specific controlled vocabulary modelled on MeSH, so searchers used to MEDLINE searching find a familiar structure.
- Practice-oriented material (care sheets, quick lessons, continuing education, videos) in the same product as the literature index.
Limits
- Most of the extras are practice and teaching material. A literature-review team is mainly buying the journal full text and the index, not the videos or exercise libraries.
- Tiers differ in full-text holdings, so the tier you searched should be recorded: it changes how many of the active journals EBSCO lists as full text are available to a reader.
- The counts are EBSCO’s own and describe active titles on a given date; they are not a measure of quality.
- Access is by licence. A tier your institution does not hold cannot be searched by pointing to this page.
Alternatives and companions
CINAHL is rarely searched alone in a health-related review. These CASRAI pages cover the usual companions and how they differ:
| Resource | Where to read about it |
|---|---|
| CINAHL Complete, Plus with Full Text, with Full Text | Smaller full-text journal sets: see the tier table above (EBSCO product page). |
| MEDLINE Ultimate (EBSCO) | A separate EBSCO product announced with CINAHL Ultimate in May 2022, described by EBSCO as 1,650 active full-text, non-open-access journals dating to 1916 (launch figures). See also CASRAI’s MEDLINE entry. |
| PubMed | CINAHL vs PubMed: scope, subject headings and grey literature. |
| Embase | Embase database: coverage, publisher and access. |
| Cochrane Library | Searching the Cochrane Library: CENTRAL versus CDSR. |
FAQ
What is CINAHL Ultimate?
It is the largest tier of EBSCO’s CINAHL nursing and allied health database, with 1,892 active full-text journals and magazines according to EBSCO’s product page, plus care sheets, quick lessons, continuing education modules, videos and exercise images.
What is the difference between CINAHL Ultimate and CINAHL Complete?
The difference is the size of the full-text set and the extra content. EBSCO lists 1,892 active full-text journals and magazines for Ultimate and 708 for Complete, and 1,717 versus 591 peer-reviewed. The product page also lists the video and exercise-image collections under Ultimate.
Is CINAHL Ultimate free?
EBSCO presents it as a licensed product and gives a retail value for its full-text journals; its page does not describe a free version. Check your library’s database list for access.
How should I cite CINAHL Ultimate in a methods section?
Name the database as CINAHL, give the tier (for example CINAHL Ultimate), the platform (EBSCOhost), the date of the search and the full search string for each database searched, so another team can see which full-text set was available.
When did CINAHL Ultimate launch?
EBSCO announced it on 5 May 2022, together with MEDLINE Ultimate.
Sources
- EBSCO Information Services, CINAHL Ultimate (product page), checked 2026-10-29.
- EBSCO Information Services, EBSCO Information Services Creates Largest Collections of Leading Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Biomedical Journals (press release, 5 May 2022), checked 2026-10-29.
