Sociology Research Databases

Sources of Information

  • British Library of Economic and Political Science (BLPES) - The home page of the British Library of Political and Economic Science, which serves as a national collection of material for research as well as being the working library of the London School of Economics (LSE). 
  • COPAC: University Research Library Catalogue - COPAC is a bibliographic catalogue that can be accessed free of charge via the Internet. It provides access to the merged catalogues of some of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland, plus the British Library.
  • ESRC Society Today - ESRC Society Today is a free website offering academics, librarians and researchers unrivalled access to high quality social and economic research - including full-texts and original datasets, key Facts & Figures and accessible plain-English summaries. A powerful search function can be tailored to bring back the best results for each user´s particular interests. Users can also register for regular news bulletins and email alerts to notify them when new material of interest has been added to the site.
  • HESA - Higher Education Statistics Agency provide news, statistics, data collection, links and contact information.
  • IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences) On-line  - IBSS ONLINE provides electronic access to the database of the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. It contains the bibliographic details of journal articles and book reviews, books, and the chapters from selected multi- authored monographs.
  • SAGE Publications Ltd - SAGE Full-Text Collections in Criminology, Communications, Sociology and Political Science: Electronic full-text research databases from SAGE and participating societies. SAGE full-text Collections in Education and Psychology. For full information on these powerful tools, go to SAGE Full-Text.
  • Sociological Research Online - Peer Reviewed articles, focusing on theoretical, empirical and methodological discussions which engage with current political, cultural and intellectual topics and debates. 
  • UCAS - Universities & Colleges Admissions Service - UCAS is the central organisation that processes applications for full-time undergraduate courses at UK universities and colleges. Includes statistical information on applications to sociology.  
  • The UK Data Archive (UKDA) is an internationally-renowned centre of expertise in data acquisition, preservation, dissemination and promotion; and is curator of the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the UK. 
  • ZETOC: Electronic Table of Contents from the British Library - The ZETOC service provides Z39.50-compliant access to the British Library's Electronic Table of Contents (ETOC). The database contains details of approximately 20,000 current journals and 16,000 conference proceedings published per year.

Journal Search Engines

  • JSTOR - JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization with a dual mission to create and maintain a trusted archive of important scholarly journals, and to provide access to these journals as widely as possible. JSTOR offers researchers the ability to retrieve high-resolution, scanned images of journal issues and pages as they were originally designed, printed, and illustrated. The journals archived in JSTOR span many disciplines. 

Other Research Links

  • Centre for Research on Family, Kinship and Childhood - The Centre was established to forge interdisciplinary links with researchers and practitioners from a varied range of disciplines with a principal focus on family life structure, kinship patterns and the changing nature of childhood. 
  • The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) - supports further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support teaching, learning, research and administration.  JISC is funded by all the UK post-16 and higher education funding councils. 
  • National Statistics Online - This is the UK's home of official statistics, reflecting Britain´s economy, population and society at national and local level. Summary stories and detailed data releases are published here free of charge. 
  • Research Councils UK (RCUK)  - is a strategic partnership set up to champion science, engineering and technology supported by the seven UK Research Councils. Through RCUK, the Research Councils are working together to create a common framework for research, training and knowledge transfer. In doing this RCUK will work alongside OST to further support for the UK's best academic researchers and deliver the best investment for society. 
  • Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace - Links, commentary, essays and graphs on the sociology's of death and dying, time, mass media, race and ethnicity, and family. 
  • Sociology Central - This resource guide is maintained by Chris Livesey. It is mainly aimed at providing resources for A-Level sociology students and their teachers. However, it contains a wealth of information on different aspects of sociology that will appeal to a far wider audience. 
  • SRHE - An independent society which aims to improve the quality of higher education through the encouragement of debate and publication on issues of policy, on the organisation and management of higher education institutions and on the curriculum, teaching and learning methods. 
  • UCISA represents the whole of higher education, and increasingly further education, in the provision and development of academic, management and administrative information systems, providing a network of contacts and a powerful lobbying voice.