Scott’s Medical Database metadata

Overview

Scott’s Medical Database (SMDB) provides information on the number of physicians and their distribution across Canada. It also contains demographic, education and migration information.

Because physicians can be uniquely identified in this database, changes in physician type as well as physician movement among provinces and territories can be tracked over time.

Explore our Physicians web page, which contains the most up-to-date information on physicians in Canada.

Data source

CIHI purchases raw data annually from Scott’s Directories, owned by iMD Health Global Corp. Scott's Directories collects data from a number of organizations and institutions, such as

Jurisdictional registrars
Medical schools
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Data coverage

SMDB data is detailed at the individual physician level.

Data availability

SMDB data is available for the following calendar years:

Most recent year: 2023
Next release: Fall 2025
Historical data: 1968 to 2023

For data from 1971 to 2023, see our SMDB data table release (ZIP). For additional data back to 1968, please complete a data request form.

Classification

No official classification standards are used in the capture of SMDB data.

Data elements

The database contains the following information about physicians:

Demographics (age, gender, etc.)
Specialty (most recent certified medical specialty)
Activity status (active, abroad, etc.)

/en/data-quality

Country, school and year of MD graduation

Data definitions can be found in the SMDB Methodology Notes (PDF).

Data quality

CIHI ensures that the quality of information in our data holdings is suited to its intended uses and that data users are provided with accurate information about data quality. Read more about our Data and Information Quality Program.

SMDB data quality documentation can be found in the Methodology Notes (PDF) of the annual SMDB data table release.

For further information on SMDB data, email hwi@cihi.ca