Open Access Databases: General

The Virtual Learning Resources Center indexes over 10,000 academic information websites, providing current, valid information for academic projects.

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Archives Hub allows you to search subjects, finding relevant information stored in various archives around Scotland, England, and Wales. Be aware that many of these are physical materials only available at certain institutions, but the site does provide some links to digital content, including images linking to full-resolution display and links to full-text files and PDF files, when available.

Run by Cornell University Library, arXiv.org provides open access to over a million e-prints in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance and statistics.

BiblioBoard Open Access boasts a growing assortment of rich historical and locally curated multimedia content as well as high-quality Open Access content and Open Educational Resources.

The British Library allows you to view digital galleries and online collections. It also allows you to search and request various books, publications, and journals to complete your research.

Run by the British Library, EThOS allows you to browse more than 400,000 doctoral theses. Although some full texts are unavailable through EThOS and must be accessed through the institution at which it was published, a PDF is provided whenever a full text is available.

The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is a directory of publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government. Here you can browse more than 500,000 records, including direct links to those available online.

The CIA World Factbook is a great resource for finding facts about every country in the world, including information about countries’ history, geography, transportation, and more

CogPrints is an electronic database of self-archived research for which full texts are available. The database includes work in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, and biology.

An imprint of independent academic publisher De Gruyter, De Gruyter Open publishes and indexes open access material, including 435 journals and more than 100 books, in all major academic disciplines.

The Digital Library of the Commons allows users to search through thousands of free and open access documents from around the world.

This index provides access to over 172,000 dissertations from 1902 to the present in a variety of subjects. Full texts are provided when available.

ERIC, of the Institution of Education Sciences, allows you to search by topics related to education. Links lead to other sites, where you may have to purchase information, but you can search for full-text articles only.

FinAid was established in the fall of 1994 as a public service. This award-winning site has grown into the most comprehensive source of student financial aid information, advice and tools -- on or off the web.
Access to FinAid is free for all users and there is no charge to link to the site.
FinAid has earned a stellar reputation in the educational community as the best web site of its kind. It's comprehensive, it's informative, it's objective -- and it's the first stop on the web for students looking for ways to finance their education.

Fold3 allows people to search U.S. military records. Though you must pay to do a thorough search of your own ancestry, you can access a fraction of their records to find general info.

Created by the Bibliothèque nationale de France based on the Gallica marque blanche infrastructure, using the IIIF standard and Mirador viewer to make the images held by the different institutions interoperable and enable them to be compared side-by-side within the same digital library or annotated

Google Books is a great way to search subjects, quotes, authors, and literary sources. Often, the full text will not be available, but you can search excerpts of books for your required information.

iSEEK is a search engine specifically crafted for students and teachers. You will find quality content related to various subjects. Searches can be filtered by grade level, location, organization, resource type, and more.

JSTOR is a very well-known resource, offering access to journals, primary sources, and books in a variety of disciplines. You can register for a free account, but many of the articles are behind a paywall.

JURN is a unique search tool, helping you to find free academic articles and books. JURN harnesses all the power of Google, but focusses your search through a hand-crafted and curated index. Established in 2009 to comprehensively cover the arts and humanities, in 2014 JURN expanded in scope. JURN now also covers selected university full-text repositories and many additional ejournals in science, biomedical, business and law. In 2015/6 JURN expanded again, adding over 600 ejournals on aspects of the natural world.

The U.S. Library of Congress Online Catalog provides access to hundreds of documents in various subjects, including newspapers, audio files, and government documents.

This curated selection explores medieval manuscripts that were digitised as part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, 700–1200. Discover stunning highlights of illuminated manuscripts set in their cultural and historical context and explored in a range of articles.

All of the 800 manuscripts digitised in the project are included in full on the website France et Angleterre: manuscrits médiévaux entre 700 et 1200 where you can view manuscripts side by side, and find manuscripts by date, language, place of origin, author or subject.

Microsoft Academic provides you with “continually refreshed and extensive academic content from over 120 million publications.” Some of these provide full-text access, while you will find others behind a paywall.

The National Archives Catalog is a free resource that helps you find historical documents and journals.

OAlster is a database that “contains records of digital resources from open-archive collections worldwide.” You can become a member to get access to all the resources, and physical copies can be delivered to your library through WorldCat.

The Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS) is an online directory of open access journals in a variety of subjects.

OpenDOAR is a search engine that combs though open-access repositories around the world.

This database of journals published by Oxford University Press acts as an archive of over 300 journals in a wide range of subjects. You can search by subject or keyword to find your desired subject, and full texts are provided when available.

With more than 11 million members, this platform allows researchers to both share and find research. Although you must sign up to use the platform, registration is free.

SafetyLit directs researchers to theses, reports, and journal articles focusing on safety and injury prevention.

SciELO is a database with more than 1,249 scientific journals. It offers open access to scholarly documents in the fields of biology and technology. The site was “especially conceived to meet the scientific communication needs of developing countries,” allowing you to search by region, as well as ensuring the visibility and accessibility of research from these areas.

The Smithsonian Libraries have compiled over 7.4 million resources that you can ask to view. You do need to have a membership to use this service.

Sparrho’s goal is to “democratise science,” providing open access to over 45,000 journals.

SpringerLink helps researchers find relevant resources, providing links to full articles, where available, or links to where the book or article can be accessed for a fee

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This collection of online resources provides access to over six million articles in countless disciplines. You can check through all journals or limit your search to only open access journals.

WorldWideScience.org connects researchers with authoritative sources about various science-related subjects.