Social Policy, Sociology & Social Sciences: Journals, articles & databases

International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS) includes over 3 million bibliographic references to journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. Over 2,800 journals are regularly indexed and some 7,000 books are included each year.

JSTOR contains the full text of journals, usually from their beginning up to about 5 years ago. For more recent years, links to the full text of articles on external sites is often given. Subjects covered include ecology, economics, education, finance, history, language and literature, mathematics and statistics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, politics and population studies.

Scopus is an abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources in the fields of Medicine, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Life Sciences. The database also provides information on citation analysis for specific articles, authors, and journal metrics.

A scientific citation indexing service that provides a comprehensive citation search. It gives access to multiple databases that reference cross-disciplinary research, which allows for in-depth exploration of specialised sub-fields within an academic or scientific discipline.

CCI Adults has been built with and for social workers and other professionals who work with disabled and older people. The overall aim of the site is to improve standards of practice by equipping practitioners with the information they need to confidently make informed decisions and assessments; stay on top of the latest guidance, good practice, research, legislation and case law; and to actively expand their knowledge base by learning through case work.

CCI Children has been built with and for social workers and other professionals who work with children, young people and their families. The overall aim of the site is to improve standards of practice by equipping practitioners with the information they need to confidently make informed decisions and assessments; stay on top of the latest guidance, good practice, research, legislation and case law; and to actively expand their knowledge base by learning through case work.

Eldis is an online information service providing free access to relevant, up-to-date and diverse research on international development issues. The database includes over 40,000 summaries and provides free links to full-text research and policy documents from over 8,000 publishers. Can be searched or browsed using Topics or Country Profiles.

The Health Management Information Consortium contains details of articles and books in health management, social care, social policy and community care.

Mass Observation was a pioneering social research organisation founded in 1937 to record everyday life in Britain. This online resource contains primary material gathered by Mass Observation from 1937-1967, including diaries and questionnaires sent in by its panel of volunteers, and research gathered by paid investigators in the form of File reports and Topic collections.

Launched in 1981 by the University of Sussex as a rebirth of the original 1937 Mass Observation, its aim was to document the social history of Britain by recruiting volunteers to write about their lives and opinions. Still growing, it is one of the most important sources available for qualitative social data in the UK. This collection consists of the directives (questionnaires) sent out by Mass Observation in the 1980s and 1990s and the thousands of responses to them from the hundreds of Mass Observers. Topics covered are wide-ranging, from the deeply personal (sex, family) to everyday life (shopping, holidays), to global affairs.

ProQuest Central is the largest single periodical resource available, bringing together complete databases across all major subject areas, including Business, Health and Medical, Language and Literature, Social Sciences, Education, Science and Technology, as well as core titles in the Performing and Visual Arts, History, Religion, Philosophy, and includes thousands of full-text newspapers from around the world.

Sage Research Methods Online (SRMO) is a research methods tool, linking Sage's research methods content with search tools to help researchers answer their research methods questions. The site contains 504 book titles, including the QASS (aka Little Green Book) series, 6 dictionaries, 4 encyclopaedias and a Major Work containing journal articles.

A free database from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Social Care Online is the UK's most extensive database of social care and social work information. Provides abstracts and some full-text documents, journal articles, books, reports from central and local government and voluntary organizations, and research papers. Register and create a free account to make the best use of the database.

This site contains a large collection of 18th, 19th and 20th Century British Parliamentary publications including parliamentary proceedings, reports, bills and registers. It encompasses all areas of social, political, economic and foreign policy. It also now includes the first digitised collection of 19th Century House of Lords Parliamentary Papers.