Databases occupy a core position within the research resources of the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Collections. Below is a curated selection of starting points and popular databases related to Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies. To increase the amount and specificity of the databases listed, we have combined listings from the ‘REES Recommended Databases’ document with the databases originally posted on this page.
General Databases
While the scope of the databases highlighted on this page is necessarily focused on Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian Studies, the team at the Slavic Reference Service has found it helpful to also highlight databases of a more general variety. These databases are recommended for their general utility across a variety of subject areas and academic fields. While not comprehensive, this list of resources should act as a good starting point for researchers in most fields.
MLA International Bibliography offers a detailed bibliography of journal articles, books and dissertations. Produced by the Modern Languages Association, the electronic version of the bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 2 million citations from more than 4,400 journals and series and 1,000 book publishers.
Historical Abstracts is a database that covers the history of the world, (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present. The database includes sections and materials explicitly dedicated to world history, military history, women’s history, the history of education, and more. Finally, indexes of more than 2,300 academic historical journals in over forty languages are included in Historical Abstracts.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is the world’s most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses on social sciences.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides abstracts and indexing of international literature concerning the political sciences and international relations. The database draws from more than 1,500 serial publications, providing abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations and working papers along the way.
Providing indexing and abstracts for more than four hundred international music periodicals, plus full-text for more than one hundred journals, Music Periodicals Database is an essential resource for any researchers interested in musical topics or histories.
WBIS contains biographical profiles of people from all centuries, countries, and regions worldwide. Addition, WBIS reproduces biographical articles from printed reference works published from the 16th to the 20th century as facsimile images, allowing researchers easy access to and engagement with biographically-focused, primary source materials.
The Gale Literature Resource Center acts as a searchable database of full-text articles, essays, book reviews, plot summaries, poems, short stories, plays, and interviews with contemporary writers.
Sociological Abstracts indexes the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
Library PressReader provides instant access to 2,200 newspapers from ninety-seven countries in fifty-four languages. A list of countries is available in a scroll-down menu on the left-hand side of the main page; once a country is chosen, color thumbnails help the user navigate among different publication available from that country. This database allows access to ninety days of back issues at any given time.
Index Islamicus collects publications related to Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Publication types include articles, books, conference proceedings, and more. All citations include links either to holdings in library catalogs or full text.
PsycINFO is an expansive abstracting and indexing database with more than 3 million records devoted to peer-reviewed literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health, making it an ideal discovery and linking tool for scholarly research in a host of disciplines.
SciFinder provides citation and indexing information for all disciplines of science, including chemistry and biology. This database is excellent for verifying citation information and looking for sources in any science-related research project. Periodicals from the region are well represented. When accessed from campus, the option to find full-text is available to the user. Note: Users must register a free account before using this index.
Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature. It contains forty-seven million records (70% with abstracts), over 19,500 titles from 5,000 publishers worldwide and over 4.9 million conference papers.
Selected Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Databases
As mentioned previously, this new collection of databases related to Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies combines databases listed on the previous version of this webpage, as well as databases formerly listed in the ‘REES Recommended Databases’ PDF document. While not comprehensive, these databases do provide an excellent starting point for further research into the areas and subjects encompassed within Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
The American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies database provides access to publications related to Slavic and East European studies. Documents include articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, dissertations, and selected government publications on East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union published in the United States and Canada. Coverage ranges from 1989-present.
Central and Eastern European Online Library is an online archive which provides access to full-text PDF articles from 1,069 humanities and social science journals, electronic books, and re-digitized documents pertaining to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European topics.
Covering more than 12,500 periodicals published primarily in Russia, the republics of the former Soviet Union, and countries in Eastern Europe, the Russian Academy of Science Bibliographies database cites and abstracts books, manuscripts, dissertations and articles ranging in time period from 1980 to the present day.
For the purposes of scholarly research within the field of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, EastView acts as a repository for multiple useful resources. The following list describes some of the resources found in Eastview; there are more on the website that the researcher can explore at their leisure. In order to search or browse the databases individually, click the appropriate link within the list found below the search box.
This digital archive encompasses the entire run of Pravda (1912-Present) in PDF format.
This database provides comprehensive coverage of national news, current events, economic developments, and cultural events in Russia. This database currently presents newspapers from all seven Federal Districts of the Russian Federation and includes coverage of local issues in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Chronological coverage ranges from 1996 to the present day.
The Russian Governmental Publications database covers thirty-four Russian publications that monitor events from the Duma and Federation Council, as well as events in the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Materials presented include stenographic records of the hearings of both the Duma and Federation Council, vote results, resolutions, legislative drafts, and auxiliary information on the schedule and agenda of legislative work. Material coverage ranges chronologically from 1991 to the present day.
The Russian National Bibliography contains all eight of the Russian National Bibliographic Publications, with some being retrospective to 1994. This database includes: Knizhnaia letopis’, Letopis’ zhurnalnykh statei, Letopis’ gazetnykh statei and several other National Bibliography publications on art, music, and maps.
This database is comprised of all thirty-one journals of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with subject matter ranging from archeology to linguistics. Popular literary editions and independent scholarly publications are also included within the scope of the database. Coverage ranges chronologically from 1997 to the present day.
The Universal Database of CIS and Baltic Newspapers includes a number of authoritative periodicals published in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union. The sources are in Russian and English and cover various issues of domestic and international importance. Coverage ranges from 1997 to the present day.
This digital archive contains full-text editions of Izvestiia in PDF format, with chronological coverage 1917 to the present day.
The Kodeks Russian Law Database covers Russian legislation. Resources are in Russian or English translation and comprise thousands of documents going back to 1991. Legislative acts issued by approximately two hundred executive, legislative, and judicial branches of Russia are also included within the scope of the database.
Ukrainian Publications contains full-text versions of thirty-five Ukrainian periodicals. This is the first database of newspapers and magazines of Ukraine (UDB-UKR) and includes publications in Russian, Ukrainian, and English. The publications cover a broad range of political, economic, and cultural affairs of Ukraine, such as reform politics, legislative changes, ethnic relations, and organizational trends in the development of the armed forces. Coverage ranges chronologically from 1997 to the present.
The LEF Digital Archive compiles the complete publications of the renowned Russian journal LEF (Left Front of the Arts) published in the early 20th Century. The collected publications contain rare works of avant-garde writers, photographers, critics and designers in the turbulent era of the early Soviet Union. This archive combines both runs of the journal LEF (1923-1925) and its successor, Novyi LEF (1927-1928).
EIU Country Data is a powerful database of annual, quarterly, and monthly economic indicators and forecasts. EIU Country Data gives you access to 317 series on 150 countries and 45 regional aggregates, running from 1980 to 2005.
Ethnic NewsWatch collects the following publications in full-text format: AGBU – Armenian General Benevolent Union, AIM – Armenian International Magazine, The Armenian Reporter, Azerbaijan International, Russian Life, Ukrainian Weekly, and We/MbI.
Formerly known as ISI Emerging Markets, EMIS provides full-text news articles, financial statements, industry analyses, equity quotes, macroeconomic statistics, and market-specific information which are derived directly from local information providers. Materials within the database appear in both English and the local language of the material in question. The list of Slavic and East European markets covered currently includes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and the Former Yugoslavia.