Research Guides: Sociology: Scholarly Articles

Core Databases for Peer-Reviewed Sociological Research

Sociological Abstracts
Indexes international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Includes Social Services Abstracts, providing bibliographic coverage of current research in social work, human services, and other areas.
SocINDEX with Full Text
Full-text, peer-reviewed sociology journals covering gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, religion, and social work, among many other subject areas.
ASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts
Index and abstracts of international journals covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations, and education.
Social Sciences Citation Index
Web of Science database of references cited in articles from more than 1,725 major journals across 50 social sciences disciplines. Search by cited reference, topic, and author.

Additional Article Databases

Given the breadth of sociological interests, there are many other databases to choose from depending on your topic.

Race Relations Abstracts
Summaries of academic journals, books, periodicals, and newspapers in ethnic and racial studies. Covers discrimination, immigration studies, ideology, community relations, radicalism, economics, cultural identity, and pressure groups.
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Citations and abstracts of international journal articles, books, and governmental and non-governmental reports on a wide range of topics in criminal justice.
Family Studies Abstracts
Covers marriage, divorce, family therapy, and other aspects of family studies.
GenderWatch
Full-text publications and archives covering the impact and evolution of gender and gender roles across a broad spectrum of subject areas, taking an interdisciplinary approach to family studies, LGBTQIA+ studies, and women's studies.
LGBTQ + Source
Indexing, abstracts, and select full text for international scholarly and popular publications on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues, with historically important primary sources, including monographs, magazines, and newspapers.
PsycINFO (Psychological Abstracts)
American Psychological Association database of abstracts for psychological literature. Includes journals, dissertations, reports, book chapters, and other scholarly documents.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full text newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, native and minority press.
ERIC via ProQuest
Premier database for education research. Includes bibliographic records and select full-text for journal articles, curriculum materials, and more.

Open Access Journals

Open access journals are scholarly journals that do not charge readers for access to articles. These journals can be accessed for free by anyone, regardless of whether you are affiliated with VCU (aka after graduation!).

Directory of Open Access Journals
This website lists all open access journals.
Frontiers in Sociology
Sociological Science
PORTAL: Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies