Tips for Finding Articles
Articles about this subject can be found in publications from a wide variety of disciplines. Use the databases on this page to get access to thousands of articles examining the subject from different perspectives or browse the key publications shown.
If the full text of an article is not available in a database, click on the 
icon to find other options for getting the article.
Article Databases
What is a database? Generally speaking, a database is a collection of records. These record might be citations, full text documents, academic articles, news stories, music, videos etc. Some databases are multidisciplinary, while others focus on particular topic, academic discipline, or media. Below is a collection of databases that may be useful for your research.
Africa-Specific Databases
For a complete listing see: Databases by Subject: African Studies
- Africa-Wide Information This link opens in a new window Africa-Wide Information searches across bibliographic databases from around the world to provide citations and abstracts on all facets of Africa and African studies. This includes content from South African Studies, African Studies, and African HealthLine, which focuses on all aspects of health relating to Africa and other developing nations. Date coverage: 16th century - present.
- African Newspapers from the World Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new window This full-text, searchable collection of 19th and early 20th century African newspapers includes titles from the following countries: Angola, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Date coverage: 1831 to 1923.
Other Useful Databases
- Economist Intelligence Unit: Country Reports This link opens in a new window Each country page in the EIU database provides forecast updates and featured analysis on economic and political events as well as content pertaining to market opportunities, government regulations and the financial services sector.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window This database contains indexes journal articles and books in the social sciences. Subjects covered in the database include anthropology, economics, education, ethnography, political science, sociology and more. It has broad international coverage. Abstracts are available for half of all current journal articles. Date coverage: 1951 - present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window This database provides full text access to the back issues of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Book reviews are included as well as journal articles. Abstracts are available for some of the articles. Date coverage: earliest issues of each journal up to the most current five years for most publications and to the present for some.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new window Project Muse provides digital access to scholarly journals and books in the humanities and social sciences. The scholarly content comes from non-profit scholarly publishers, including university presses and societies. The full text resources include journal articles, book reviews and book chapters.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window Women's Studies International indexes women's studies, women's issues and gender-focused journal and magazine articles, books and book chapters, dissertations and reports worldwide. Date coverage: 1972 - present.
Find Journals Published in Africa
- African Journals Online (AJOL) AJOL hosts 520 Journals, including 213 Open Access Journals. Browse journals by category.
- Sabinet Open Access Journal Collection A full-text collection of approx. 86 scholarly journals and trade publications available to everyone. It includes publications covering our subject collections in addition to the African Journal Archive.
Current Newspapers on Africa
Consult the following resources for up-to-date newspaper coverage of Africa and the world:
- Factiva This link opens in a new window Provides worldwide full text coverage of local and regional newspapers, trade publications, business newswires, press release wires, media transcripts, news photos, business-rich websites, investment analyst reports, market research reports, country and regional profiles, company profiles, historical market data. Date coverage varies by publication.
- PressReader This link opens in a new window Full-page images and article images with searchable full text of international newspapers and magazines from the last 90 days, in the original language. Includes computer-generated translations to English and other languages for some publications.
- International Newsstream This link opens in a new window International, searchable, full text coverage of selected newspapers. (Text only; does not include images, charts.) Date coverage: 1977 - present.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Nexis Uni is a source for newspapers and magazines, trade journals, wire services and transcripts, as well as legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1790, and information on U.S. and international companies and executives.
- Access World News This link opens in a new window(this resource is available to BU affiliates through 2020.)
For more newspapers see out Guide to African Newspapers and Guide to Newspapers and Newsmedia.
Librarian
Rachel Dwyer
she/ her
Contact:
African Studies Library
6th floor,
Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri 9am - 5 pm
rdwyer@bu.edu
6th floor,
Mugar Memorial Library
Mon-Fri 9am - 5 pm
rdwyer@bu.edu
617-353-3726
Subjects: African Studies