Skip to content | Change text size

Selected general databases

  • Sociological abstracts 1963- , provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,700 serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Records added after 1974 contain in-depth and evaluative abstracts of journal articles. Topics covered include culture and social structure, demography, economic development, environment, family and social welfare, health and medicine and law, history and theory of sociology, media studies, organizational theory, sociology of religion and science, rural and urban sociology, social development, social differentiation, social psychology and group interaction, sociology of the arts, business, education, studies in violence and power, substance abuse and addiction, welfare services and gender studies. US bias.
  • IBSS : international bibliography of the social sciences contains the bibliographic details of journal articles and book reviews, books, and the chapters from selected multi-authored monographs. The database contains over 1,500,000 records covering publications appearing between 1951 and the present day. Subject coverage is based on the four principal disciplines of sociology, anthropology, political science and economics and related subjects. There is extensive coverage of international material. Records come from over 100 countries, and 95 different languages are represented in the database.
  • PAIS international covers information from 120 countries relating to public policy, social policy and the social sciences in general. The following subjects are included: economics, political science, public administration, international law and relations, the environment and demography. Includes English language materials, and materials in five other languages. Coverage: indexes more than 425,000 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, internet material, and more. Excludes: newspapers and newsletters are not indexed. Start date: 1976
    Note: Some articles are available full text on PAIS select which is available at the Matheson Library information desk.
  • BHI : British humanities index abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities with a British / European bias, BHI indexes over 320 journals covering a broad range of subjects including gender studies, religion, current affairs, political science, education, environment and foreign affairs. Selectively indexes weekly magazines, as well as quality newspapers published in the UK and the US. Very useful adjunct to American based indexes and for cross disciplinary topics not covered well by social science databases alone.
  • Expanded academic ASAP (via Gale), indexes 1,500 journals in all subject areas except the pure sciences and 520 of these journals are available in full text. The majority of the Sociology articles however are available with abstracts only. One advantage to this database is that it is very current.
  • ProQuest dissertations & theses is a bibliographic database which selectively covers international masters theses and doctoral dissertations on all academic subjects (with an emphasis on North America). Includes citations for dissertations ranging from 1861 to those accepted last semester; those published from 1980 onwards include 350 word abstracts. Citations for masters theses from 1988 onwards include 150 word abstracts. Titles published since 1997 have 24 page previews available which are free to access however, full text theses which are available in .pdf format need to be purchased.
  • JSTOR is a searchable electronic archive of full text of over 100 journals in a wide range of disciplines. Dates range from last century to 1997. Currently Available Collections and Journals.
  • Worldwide political science abstracts is a bibliographic database which indexes and abstracts the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy. Major areas of subject coverage include: comparative politics; developing nations disarmament; economic policy; electoral systems; environmental policy; government/political systems; history and theory of political science; international relations / trade; labour relations; military policy; methodology and research technology; political behaviour; political economy; political psychology; politics and law; politics and communication; politics and religion; politics and society; public administration; security and defense; and, welfare systems.1975- 
  • Ciao : Columbia international affairs online 1997- , is designed to be the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 on that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences. Each section of CIAO is updated with new material on a regular schedule. Working papers are augmented every month, as are conference proceedings, policy briefs and economic indicators. Links and resources, the schedule of events and the response files are updated weekly. New journal issues and books are added as they become available.
  • Web of science This database includes Social sciences citation index (SSCI) 1997 - present and the Arts & humanities citation index (A&HCI) 1997 - present.
  • Current contents connect indexes over 7,000 journals in arts, science, social science and humanities. It also provides the table of contents of journals as soon as they are available in print, sometimes before!
  • International Institute for the Sociology of Law : bibliographic databases provides access to two separate bibliographic databases specialising in the sociology of law and other related subjects such as the sociology of legal professions, family sociology, sociology of criminality and its control, police, prisons, administration of justice, human rights, marginalisation and public policy. Indexes books, series, journal articles and unpublished material.
  • Social services abstracts, abstracts and indexes over 1,600 serials publications covering current research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Major topics covered include: community and mental health services, crisis intervention, the family and social welfare, gerentology, poverty and homelessness, professional issues in social work, social and health policy, social services in addiction, social work education, social work practice, support groups/networks, violence, abuse, neglect and welfare services.
  • National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information contains over 22,000 records on child abuse and neglect and child welfare issues. Has a strong US bias. Government documents, conference papers, audio visual resources, journals, books etc from 1965 are included.
  • For the record ...= le bilan ... annual 6-volume set on human rights initiatives across the world with links to / has the full text of UN documents.
  • Child abuse, child welfare and adoption database includes citations and abstracts to books, journal articles, final reports from federally-funded grants, conference papers, unpublished papers, reports on completed or continuing research, as well as descriptions of service programs and prevention, and treatment strategies. Materials cited are primarily in English-language, originating from US research and service programs. Major subjects include: child maltreatment, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, child neglect, out-of-home placement, foster care, permanency planning, visitation and family reunification, alternative dispute resolution, adoption, private adoption, inter-country adoption, transracial adoption, search and reunion, open adoption, etc. From 1965- .
  • Social Science Research Network is a free database of scholarly full text documents in .pdf format.
  • United Nations official documents : ODS full text, 1992- . This database includes full text documents from the General Assembly and Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary bodies, the security and the Trusteeship councils, conference papers and resolutions from 1946.
  • Population Index from 1986 - . It is the primary reference tool to the world's population literature and is an annotated bibliography of recently published books, journal articles, working papers and other materials on population topics.
  • PsycINFO from 1966- covers professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other related areas. Note: Content is very similar to the PsycLIT database but PsycINFO also includes dissertations and technical reports.
  • Academic research library, there is much duplication between this database and Expanded academic ASAP, but there is a useful separate but small religious periodicals index.
  • Eurocat available on campus network only. Provides access to official European information on legislation, policies and activities in the European communities from 1995.

Repositories

  • Arrow Repository
    Repository of Monash University research material
  • OAIster
    OAIster serves as the key search portal for Institutional repositories - digital collections of electronic books, online journals, audio and image files, and movies provided by the research library community.Indexed content includes the Library of Congress' American Memory Project, various pre-print and e-print servers, and digital thesis and dissertation collections. Currently OAIster contains over a 18 million records harvested from over 1034 institutions.

Ask a question Phone +61 3 9905 5054 or use our enquiry services ask.monash for Monash students and staff | ask.monash for visitors, or online chat.
Your opinion Feedback form for Monash staff and students | Feedback form for visitors