Sociology and Social Policy

Information sources

Databases

Find articles relevant to your subject by searching databases.

Look at the guides to get the most from each database.

These databases are available for use by Leeds staff and students both on and off-site within the terms of the license agreements. Off-site users will need to login using their Leeds username and password.

You can also see a complete list of databases for Sociology and Social Policy

Key databases


Africabib An open access database covering African studies publications on a wide range of topics. It consists of the following seven databases: Africana Periodical Literature; African Women; Women Travellers to Africa; Islam in Africa; Kenya Coast; Water and Africa; Education in Africa.
AfricArXiv AfricArXiv is a community-led multidisciplinary digital archive for African research. It is working towards building an African-owned open scholarly repository and a knowledge commons of African scholarly works to catalyse the African Renaissance.
CAB Abstracts Online Covers human health, food and nutrition, agriculture, environmental issues, genetics, plant and animal science. CAB Abstracts includes information about research articles, books, conference proceedings and reports. Coverage from 1973 onwards. Guide to using CAB Abstracts Online
Dimensions Dimensions is the world’s largest linked-research database, covering articles, grants, patents, clinical trials, datasets, policy documents and technical reports. It also provides research metrics. There is a free version open to all, or a subscription version. You must register for an account with your Leeds email address to get full access, from a computer within the University’s IP range or through the virtual desktop. Once you are registered, you can access the database from off-campus. If you are a student, you can put “student” in the job title field. Guide to using Dimensions
Eldis Eldis provides free access to relevant, up-to-date and diverse research on international development issues. It includes over 50,000 summaries and provides free links to full-text research and policy documents from over 8,000 publishers. Eldis aims to cover high quality research from smaller research producers, especially those from developing countries, alongside that of the larger, northern based, research organisations.
Erudit Erudit gives free access to French-language resources in the social sciences and humanities from the North American region. It indexes journal articles, books and proceedings, theses and dissertations, and research reports.
HMIC database This database brings together the bibliographic databases of two UK health and social care management organisations: Department of Health (DH-Data) and King's Fund. HMIC enables you to search for journal articles, books, Department of Health policy documents and unpublished material in the area of UK and international health and social care management and policy. The two HMIC databases are updated six times a year and records go back to 1983. A free current awareness service provides email alerts to newly added content. HMIC workbook
House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Fully searchable, indexed House of Commons bills, papers and command papers from 1688-2012. There is also some supplementary material from 1688. There will be regular releases of papers from current sessions of Parliament or a huge collection of everything placed before the House of Commons from 1688-2008/09. The papers have been scanned, and the full text can be searched. Guide to using House of Commons Parliamentary Papers
J-Stage J-STAGE is an electronic journal platform for STEM information in Japan, developed and managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). J-STAGE supports Japanese societies and research organisations, and has published more than 3,000 journals, conference proceedings and other academic publications.
JSTOR JSTOR provides access to more than 10 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines including Art and Art History, Performing Arts, Architecture and Music. Guide to using JSTOR
Nexis An excellent source of news information, including international newspapers, trade publications and company information. All articles are available in full text. You can to narrow down your search by limiting the dates or by choosing a specific set of newspapers. For example you can choose to search across all English language newspapers or just UK national newspapers. Updated daily. Guide to using Nexis Tutorials from LexisNexis Power Search Guide from Nexis Solutions
OSF Preprints OSF preprints indexes millions of preprints from preprint providers from around the world, including AfricaArXiv, and IndiaRxiv. It is maintained and developed by the not-for-profit Center for Open Science (COS). A preprint is a version of a research article prior to it going through the peer review process.
SciELO SciElo is a database that provides access to scientific research from Latin America and the Caribbean. Its aim is to promote and increase the visibility of research from Latin America.
Scopus Scopus is a large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature from more than 18,500 journals and quality web sources, with smart tools to track, analyse and visualize research. Coverage starts from 1823. Guide to using Scopus
Social Care Online Free database provided by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Updated daily resources include legislation, government documents, practice and guidance, systematic reviews, research briefings, reports, journal articles and websites. Every resource listed includes an abstract. Links to full text are also included where available. Social Care Online is a particularly useful resource for staff, students and researchers working in social work and social care. Guide to using Social Care Online
Social Work Abstracts Indexing and abstracts for over 450 journals dealing with all aspects of social work and services. Coverage from 1977 onwards. This database has limited simultaneous users. Guide to using Social Work Abstracts
The Lens The Lens aggregates and provides access to over 225 million scholarly works, patent records and patent sequences from across the world. Its goal is to enable more people to make better decisions, informed by evidence.
UK Data Service A statistical database providing numerous datasets of information. It is made up of datasets from organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). You must register with this service to access the statistics. Guide to using UK Data Service
UK Parliamentary Papers : public information online This database contains the full text of all House of Commons bills, House of Commons papers, command papers, House of Lords bills and House of Lords papers from session 2006/07 onwards. It also contains the full text of Public Bill and Standing Committee debates. It is updated daily. Guide to using UK Parliamentary Papers : public information online
Web of Science Search for journal articles using three databases; Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. A current awareness service provides citation alerts for newly added journal articles. Each database is updated weekly. Guide to using Web of Science
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) is the World Bank’s official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. It contains thousands of research outputs on a wide range of topics and from all regions of the world.

Africabib

An open access database covering African studies publications on a wide range of topics. It consists of the following seven databases: Africana Periodical Literature; African Women; Women Travellers to Africa; Islam in Africa; Kenya Coast; Water and Africa; Education in Africa.

AfricArXiv

AfricArXiv is a community-led multidisciplinary digital archive for African research. It is working towards building an African-owned open scholarly repository and a knowledge commons of African scholarly works to catalyse the African Renaissance.

CAB Abstracts Online

Covers human health, food and nutrition, agriculture, environmental issues, genetics, plant and animal science. CAB Abstracts includes information about research articles, books, conference proceedings and reports. Coverage from 1973 onwards.

Guide to using CAB Abstracts Online

Dimensions

Dimensions is the world’s largest linked-research database, covering articles, grants, patents, clinical trials, datasets, policy documents and technical reports. It also provides research metrics. There is a free version open to all, or a subscription version.

You must register for an account with your Leeds email address to get full access, from a computer within the University’s IP range or through the virtual desktop. Once you are registered, you can access the database from off-campus. If you are a student, you can put “student” in the job title field.

Guide to using Dimensions

Eldis

Eldis provides free access to relevant, up-to-date and diverse research on international development issues. It includes over 50,000 summaries and provides free links to full-text research and policy documents from over 8,000 publishers. Eldis aims to cover high quality research from smaller research producers, especially those from developing countries, alongside that of the larger, northern based, research organisations.

Erudit

Erudit gives free access to French-language resources in the social sciences and humanities from the North American region. It indexes journal articles, books and proceedings, theses and dissertations, and research reports.

HMIC database

This database brings together the bibliographic databases of two UK health and social care management organisations: Department of Health (DH-Data) and King's Fund. HMIC enables you to search for journal articles, books, Department of Health policy documents and unpublished material in the area of UK and international health and social care management and policy. The two HMIC databases are updated six times a year and records go back to 1983. A free current awareness service provides email alerts to newly added content.

HMIC workbook

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

Fully searchable, indexed House of Commons bills, papers and command papers from 1688-2012. There is also some supplementary material from 1688. There will be regular releases of papers from current sessions of Parliament or a huge collection of everything placed before the House of Commons from 1688-2008/09. The papers have been scanned, and the full text can be searched.

Guide to using House of Commons Parliamentary Papers

J-Stage

J-STAGE is an electronic journal platform for STEM information in Japan, developed and managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). J-STAGE supports Japanese societies and research organisations, and has published more than 3,000 journals, conference proceedings and other academic publications.

JSTOR

JSTOR provides access to more than 10 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines including Art and Art History, Performing Arts, Architecture and Music.

Guide to using JSTOR

Nexis

An excellent source of news information, including international newspapers, trade publications and company information. All articles are available in full text. You can to narrow down your search by limiting the dates or by choosing a specific set of newspapers. For example you can choose to search across all English language newspapers or just UK national newspapers. Updated daily.

Guide to using Nexis

Tutorials from LexisNexis

Power Search Guide from Nexis Solutions

OSF Preprints

OSF preprints indexes millions of preprints from preprint providers from around the world, including AfricaArXiv, and IndiaRxiv. It is maintained and developed by the not-for-profit Center for Open Science (COS). A preprint is a version of a research article prior to it going through the peer review process.

SciELO

SciElo is a database that provides access to scientific research from Latin America and the Caribbean. Its aim is to promote and increase the visibility of research from Latin America.

Scopus

Scopus is a large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature from more than 18,500 journals and quality web sources, with smart tools to track, analyse and visualize research. Coverage starts from 1823.

Guide to using Scopus

Social Care Online

Free database provided by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Updated daily resources include legislation, government documents, practice and guidance, systematic reviews, research briefings, reports, journal articles and websites. Every resource listed includes an abstract. Links to full text are also included where available. Social Care Online is a particularly useful resource for staff, students and researchers working in social work and social care.

Guide to using Social Care Online

Social Work Abstracts

Indexing and abstracts for over 450 journals dealing with all aspects of social work and services. Coverage from 1977 onwards. This database has limited simultaneous users.

Guide to using Social Work Abstracts

The Lens

The Lens aggregates and provides access to over 225 million scholarly works, patent records and patent sequences from across the world. Its goal is to enable more people to make better decisions, informed by evidence.

UK Data Service

A statistical database providing numerous datasets of information. It is made up of datasets from organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). You must register with this service to access the statistics.

Guide to using UK Data Service

UK Parliamentary Papers : public information online

This database contains the full text of all House of Commons bills, House of Commons papers, command papers, House of Lords bills and House of Lords papers from session 2006/07 onwards. It also contains the full text of Public Bill and Standing Committee debates. It is updated daily.

Guide to using UK Parliamentary Papers : public information online

Web of Science

Search for journal articles using three databases; Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index. A current awareness service provides citation alerts for newly added journal articles. Each database is updated weekly.

Guide to using Web of Science

World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) is the World Bank’s official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products. It contains thousands of research outputs on a wide range of topics and from all regions of the world.