LibGuides: Sociology: Subject databases & Open Access reosurces

Library

Using subject databases

Subject databases are specialist online resources that you can use to:

find literature in journal articles, book chapters, conference papers, PhD theses
access documents, data, images, film and broadcast material in digital archives
search online newspaper content and reference works

There are many databases covering different research topics and disciplines. Below are some which are particularly useful for sociology students.

The full list of resources for sociology is available on the recommended databases page.

Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Use to find journal articles, books and chapters. Covering international sociology from 1952 to the present, Sociological Abstracts is recommended for all assignments and dissertation research
International literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Contains academic journals, books, and primary sources, primarily in the humanities and social sciences
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
eHRAF World Cultures This link opens in a new window
eHRAF (Human Relations Area Files) World Cultures is an online cross-cultural database that contains information on all aspects of cultural and social life
eHRAF World Cultures contains ethnographic collections covering all aspects of cultural and social life from historical to contemporary time periods. The contents are organized by regions, subregions, and cultures and cover over 300 cultures. The material is indexed at the paragraph level by Human Relations Area Files anthropologists using unique subject identifier codes from the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM).
UK Data Service This link opens in a new window
Repository of government data, census material, longitudinal studies, qualitative data
The UK’s largest collection of social, economic and population data sources.Includes major UK government-sponsored surveys, cross-national surveys, longitudinal studies, UK census data, international aggregate, business data, and qualitative data. Intergovernmental organisations include International Monetary Fund (IMF), Office for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. Research institutes include NatCen, Institute for Social and Economics Research (ISER) and the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) among many others.

Additional resources

A selection of free, open-access resources relevant to sociology:

Gender & Sexuality

Black Mothers in the Forefront
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Includes images and oral histories that focus on activism by black mothers in the UK in the 1970s includes campaigns for health, education, and work.
Black Women Radicals Database (BWRD)
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A database of historical and transnational Black women activists and leaders
HOWL History of Women’s Liberation
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Collection of memories and stories of feminists involved in women’s liberation movement in the UK. Features of the site include a timeline, link to archive collections and other resources. The site is developing oral histories and photographic archives
LGBTQ histories
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British Library website charting the struggles for love, identity and legislative change faced by LGBTQ communities in the UK
Liberating histories - feminist periodicals guide
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Highlights feminist magazine titles written by and for women. Includes periodicals coverages of Mukhti (A collectively-run British Asian feminist magazine), Outwrite, Red Rag, Scarlet Women, Spare Rib and Shocking Pink.
Modern Records Centre on Feminism and the Role of Women
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University of Warwick Modern Records Centre collections including Feminism, Politics, and Social Change in Modern Britain, Women at Work, The Industrial Society soundtracks from the 1960s including portrayals of women in the workplace, Cobwebs feminist magazine and Freedom on two wheels
Sisterhood and after
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British Library archive of feminist voices
Women's History
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International Institute of Social History, including the WWW Virtual Library of Women's History
The Women's Library @ LSE
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Material from England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement
Women's Rights Collection
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LSE digital library collection containing suffrage newspapers, journals, pamphlets, leaflets and annual reports of different suffrage groups covering the women’s suffrage campaign
Woman, Life, Freedom Movement of Iran
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Preserves material on the Woman, Life, Freedom movement of Iran, which emerged in the wake of the 2022 police killing of Mahsa Jîna Amini. Her arrest by the morality police, on alleged grounds of non-compliance with the compulsory Hijab Law, caused mass protest.

Social protest movements

Black Women Radicals Database (BWRD)
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A database of historical and transnational Black women activists and leaders
Joseph A. Labadie Collection of Radical Posters
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Images of posters covering social protest movements such as Anarchism, Civil Liberties, Colonialism, Communism, Ecology, Labour, Pacifism, Sexual Freedom, Socialism, Women, and Youth/Student Protest
Rosa Park Papers
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Documents on many aspects of Rosa Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans
Grunwick Remembered
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Filmed (and unedited) interviews with participants in the 1976-1978 Grunwick dispute - a strike of predominantly South Asian women workers for trade union recognition, which involved mass picketing, confrontations with the police and the national mobilisation of the labour movement

Migration and Slavery

Chile Solidarity
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Archive material relating to the Chile Solidarity Campaign and reception of Chilean refugees in Britain. A selection of just over 200 items are showcased in this digital collection
Forced Migration Review
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Refugee, internal displacement and statelessness issues
Grunwick Remembered
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Filmed (and unedited) interviews with participants in the 1976-1978 Grunwick dispute - a strike of predominantly South Asian women workers for trade union recognition, which involved mass picketing, confrontations with the police and the national mobilisation of the labour movement
Moving people changing places
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Unpacks the issues of UK migration, identity and diversity facing contemporary societies.
Race, Ethnicity, and Migration in Modern Britain
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Digitised sources on race, ethnicity and migration in Britain from the late 19th century onwards. Includes sections on 'Jewish East London', 'Britain's ports, 1910s-1930s', 'European refugees and fascism, 1933-1945', 'The British Commonwealth and the Second World War', 'West Indian migration, 1948-1958', 'The 1958 riots', 'Enoch Powell and the 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech', 'The National Front and the anti-fascist response in the 1970s' and 'Race, policing and the 1980s riots'
Race Today
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Magazine archive chronicling the lives of Britain’s black community during the 1970s and 1980s. First launched in 1973, it combined radical journalism with campaigning zeal to shine a light on the issues affecting Britain’s black communities, as well as providing insight and commentary on politics in Britain and abroad.
Slavery and Manumission Manuscripts of Timbuktu
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Arabic nineteenth-century manuscripts relating to slavery and manumission in Timbuktu, providing documentation on Africans in slavery in Muslim societies. From the Bibliothèque Commémorative Mama Haidara in Timbuktu, Mali
Slave Voyages
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Project providing databases with details of Transatlantic and Intra-American slave voyages

Research associations

ESRC Research Catalogue
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Research projects and outputs funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The site also provides Resources for PhD students to help students learn research skills, how to collaborate with others and how to achieve the maximum impact from their research through an Impact toolkit
European Sociological Association
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The Association aims to facilitate sociological research, teaching and communication on European issues and to contribute to the development of sociological research and a voice in Europe. ESA represents the largest network of sociologists in Europe and has over 20 research networks which organise meetings and conferences on a regular basis
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
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Works for social change in the UK by researching the root causes of social problems and by developing solutions. Major areas of work include poverty, social injustice, community resilience and the response to the opportunities and challenges of an ageing society
Social Research Association
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Professional membership body for social researchers. The Association organises seminars, workshop and conferences and provides training courses for career development, research ethics guidelines and information on publications and other resources. The association provides contact details for members to contact other members in academic, central and local government, non-profit organisations, large commercial research firms and independent practitioners
Social Science Research Council
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An international organisation which fosters innovative research in the Social sciences, SSRC works with practitioners, policy makers and academic researchers in the social sciences and related professions. The Council publishes books and papers and facilitates the development of new social science researchers. It also provides support to projects and individuals through fellowship awards and prizes
Gateway to Research
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Developed by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to enable users to search and analyse information about publicly funded research

Data sources

Below is a list of freely available data sources relevant to sociology. The library also subscribes to paid-for data sources, such as the UK Data Service, Mass Observation, OECDiLibrary and Statistica, available in the sociology A-Z databases list. For a list of qualitative, or quantitative data sources, or if you need help with finding data, please see Finding Research Data.

CIRI Human Rights Dataset
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Standards-based quantitative information on government respect for a wide range of internationally-recognised human rights for countries of all regime-types and from all regions of the world. The data set contains measures of government human rights practices, not human rights policies or overall human rights conditions (which may be affected by non-state actors).
data.bris
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University of Bristol Research Data Repository
Data.gov.uk
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The UK government's statistical service
DataCite Commons
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Aggregates dataset records from multiple sources and allows searching of general repositories via a single interface
Data.gov U.S. Government open data, providing access to hundred of thousands of datasets from state and federal agencies
Data Portals.org
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A comprehensive List of open data portals from around the world
Eurostat
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Data from the statistical office of the European Union
figshare
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An online open access repository of research outputs, including figures, datasets, images, and videos
General Social Survey Nationally representative survey of adults in the United States conducted since 1972. The GSS collects data on contemporary American society in order to monitor and explain trends in opinions, attitudes and behaviours
Google dataset search Discover data sets hosted in thousands of repositories across the web. Filter results based on type of dataset (e.g., tables, images, text), or whether the dataset is available for free from the provider
Harvard Dataverse Research data from across research fields, from Harvard University, USA and beyond
HealthData.gov Health data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Henry A. Murray Research Archive Repository for quantitative and qualitative research data at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science in the USA, comprising over 100 terabytes of data, audio, and video
HSRC Research Data Service
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The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) research data in support of evidence based human and social development in South Africa and the broader region
ICPSR - Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research Mixed methods and qualitative research studies available for download from an international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations. a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioural sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Microdata for social and economic research containing census and survey data from around the world
Mass-Observing COVID-19 database
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Material collected by Mass Observation during the COVID-19 pandemic, including diaries and writing created during the pandemic by people living in the UK
Mass Observation Project Directives
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Copies of Mass Observation Project Directives questions available for download. Responses are available on the Mass Observation Project in the A-Z databases list up to 2009: https://bristol.libguides.com/az/databases. Post 2009 responses can be obtained by emailing moa@sussex.ac.uk
National Statistical Offices
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UN central repository of country profiles of statistical systems. The country profiles include, among others, a brief history of the country's statistical system, legal basis, the statistical programme and much more
Open Data Inception
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2600+ Open Data Portals Around the World
Qualitative Data Repository A dedicated archive for storing and sharing digital data (and accompanying documentation) generated or collected through qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences and related disciplines
re3data
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A registry of research data repositories. Browse by data type, country, subject
Sage Research Methods Datasets
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Downloadable datasets sourced from government and academic sources with step-by-step guides that walk you through quantitative and qualitative data analysis
Social Trends
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Social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and other organisations
UN Data
Economic, social and environment indicators for all countries from the United Nations Statistics division.
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Economic, social and environment indicators for all countries from the United Nations Statistics division.

News sources

British Cartoon Archive This link opens in a new window National collection of socio-political cartoons from British newspapers and magazines, plus comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines.
National collection of socio-political cartoons from British newspapers and magazines, plus comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines.
Conversation, the This link opens in a new window
An independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.
An independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.
European Union Newsroom This link opens in a new window
Official news website of the institutions of the European Union. It provides online access to the latest official press material released by all EU institutions
Official news website of the institutions of the European Union. It provides online access to the latest official press material released by all EU institutions
Onlinenewspapers.com This link opens in a new window
Links to thousands of national and local newspapers around the world.
Links to thousands of national and local newspapers around the world.

Wikipedia list of online newspaper archives
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List of newspaper archives which are available online, organised by country. Some are freely available
Full Fact
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Independent fact-checking organisation, focused on assessing claims from UK politicians and the media.

Ebooks

Hathi Trust Digital Library
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HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitised from libraries around the world
Internet Archive
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Includes digitised versions of many out-of-copyright works, as well as archived versions of websites.
Project Gutenburg
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An online collection of collection of digitised books, mostly out-of-copyright works dating from before 1924

Location-specific resources

Black Mothers in the Forefront
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Includes images and oral histories that focus on activism by black mothers in the UK in the 1970s includes campaigns for health, education, and work.
Gateway to Research
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Developed by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to enable users to search and analyse information about publicly funded research
Grunwick Remembered
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Filmed (and unedited) interviews with participants in the 1976-1978 Grunwick dispute - a strike of predominantly South Asian women workers for trade union recognition, which involved mass picketing, confrontations with the police and the national mobilisation of the labour movement
Modern Records Centre on Politics and Protest
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University of Warwick Modern Records Centre politics and protest collections including Governing Britain (1884-1989), Cabinet minister Richard Crossman broadcasts and diaries, Communist and Trotskyist Harry Wick interviews, the Winter of Discontent discussion and the Privatisation Show, a satirical anti-privatisation film
Race, Ethnicity, and Migration in Modern Britain
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Digitised sources on race, ethnicity and migration in Britain from the late 19th century onwards. Includes sections on 'Jewish East London', 'Britain's ports, 1910s-1930s', 'European refugees and fascism, 1933-1945', 'The British Commonwealth and the Second World War', 'West Indian migration, 1948-1958', 'The 1958 riots', 'Enoch Powell and the 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech', 'The National Front and the anti-fascist response in the 1970s' and 'Race, policing and the 1980s riots'
Race Today
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Magazine archive chronicling the lives of Britain’s black community during the 1970s and 1980s. First launched in 1973, it combined radical journalism with campaigning zeal to shine a light on the issues affecting Britain’s black communities, as well as providing insight and commentary on politics in Britain and abroad.

ESRC Research Catalogue
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Research projects and outputs funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The site also provides Resources for PhD students to help students learn research skills, how to collaborate with others and how to achieve the maximum impact from their research through an Impact toolkit
SciELO
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Bibliographical database of open access scholarly journals relating particularly to Latin America, Portugal and Spain.

AfricArXiv
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AfricArXiv is a community-led digital archive for African research, working towards building an African-owned open scholarly repository
AfricaBib
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Index to articles on a wide range of topics relating to countries in Africa
African Education Research Database (AERD)
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The online African Education Research Database (AERD) aims to raise the visibility of African research, consolidate the evidence base for policy and practice, and inform future research priorities and partnerships

African Journal Archive This link opens in a new window
African journal literature originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent.
African journal literature originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent

African Journals Online
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A platform of African-published scholarly journals, working to increase global & continental online access, awareness, quality & use of African-published, peer-reviewed research
Black Women Radicals Database (BWRD)
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A database of historical and transnational Black women activists and leaders
Digital Innovation South Africa
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Online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggle for freedom during the period from 1950 to the first democratic elections in 1994
Official Gazettes and Civil Society Documentation
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A collection of official gazettes and other key historical government documentation from countries where the integrity of the public record is known to be at risk, including 10 African and Persian Gulf countries
The Rwanda Documents Project
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Primary source materials from international and national agencies, governments, and courts that relate to the political and social history of Rwanda from 1990 to the present
Slavery and Manumission Manuscripts of Timbuktu
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Arabic nineteenth-century manuscripts relating to slavery and manumission in Timbuktu, providing documentation on Africans in slavery in Muslim societies. From the Bibliothèque Commémorative Mama Haidara in Timbuktu, Mali
Slave Voyages
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Project providing databases with details of Transatlantic and Intra-American slave voyages

Asian Online Journals (AOJ)
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Open access journals that aim to reach a large number of audiences worldwide with original and current research work. Includes the Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies
Digital Archive for Chinese Studies
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Internet resources relevant for Chinese studies, with special emphasis on social and political discourse
Official Gazettes and Civil Society Documentation
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A collection of official gazettes and other key historical government documentation from countries where the integrity of the public record is known to be at risk, including 10 African and Persian Gulf countries
National Archives of Japan Digital Archive
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Includes digitised documents on the constitution of Japan, cultural documents and maps
National Digital Library of India
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Virtual repository of digital books and documents relating to historic and contemporary India
Qatar Digital Library
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The Qatar Digital Library (QDL) vast archive featuring the cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf and wider region with material up to 1999. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs and much more, complete with contextualised explanatory notes and links, in both English and Arabic
Woman, Life, Freedom Movement of Iran
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Preserves material on the Woman, Life, Freedom movement of Iran, which emerged in the wake of the 2022 police killing of Mahsa Jîna Amini. Her arrest by the morality police, on alleged grounds of non-compliance with the compulsory Hijab Law, caused mass protest.

Rosa Park Papers
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Documents on many aspects of Rosa Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans

Chile Solidarity
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Archive material relating to the Chile Solidarity Campaign and reception of Chilean refugees in Britain. A selection of just over 200 items are showcased in this digital collection
SciELO
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Bibliographical database of open access scholarly journals relating particularly to Latin America, Portugal and Spain.

Wilson Centre Digital Archive
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Online resource providing access to once-secret documents from governments and organisations all over the world
The World Factbook
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The World Factbook provides basic intelligence on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, environment, communications, transportation, military, terrorism, and transnational issues for 266 world entities

Quick links

Recommended databases for Sociology

A complete list of databases recommended for students of sociology.

Help with databases

For guidance on using databases you can book onto one of our library training workshops or contact your Subject Librarian for 1:1 help.

Please email me at Catherine.Downs@bristol.ac.uk