Gender in Policy & International Affairs: Find Articles

This guide provides resources for research on women in development

Scholarly Articles

To find scholarly articles or studies, you will need to use a database (not CLIO). 

Researchers in this field use EBSCO and ProQuest the most. 

General, interdisciplinary databases:

  • JSTOR: Provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in 75 disciplines.
  • Project MUSE: Current collection of journals in the humanities and history, maintained by Johns Hopkins University Press. Full-text searching available. It also provides access to individual titles within the collection, such as Africa TodayAmerican ImagoContemporary PacificEthnohistory, and Public Culture, as well as to other interdisciplinary journals which may also prove useful to anthropological research.
  • Scopus: Provides indexing, abstracting of and citation linking to journals in biology ,physics, chemistry, geosciences, agriculture, medicine, business, social work, and the social sciences.
  • Web of science core collection: Consists of seven databases containing information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals, books, book series, reports, conferences, and more.

On this page, you will find a lot of options to start your research, but these are not all of the databases that you have access to as a Columbia University student! Explore the other research guides to find other databases for different disciplines, take a workshop like database demo, or make an appointment with a librarian. 

Gender Databases

  • Contemporary women's issues: Provides information about women in over 190 countries.
  • Eldis Gender Resource Guide: Search databases and access gender country profiles.
  • Gender Studies Database: Women's studies, gender studies, feminist theory and criticism. Coverage 1972 to the present
  • LGBT lifeProvides indexing and abstracts of worldwide literature on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.
  • Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts: Provides articles on education, employment, women in the family, medicine and health, gender role socialization, social policy, the social psychology of women, female culture, media treatment of women, biography, literary criticism and historical studies.
  • Women's studies international: Provides citations and some abstracts to the core areas of Women's studies. Covers journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, websites and grey literature.

Historical Databases

International Databases

  • Africa Wide Information: Coverage of all facets of African studies, dating back to the 16th century.
  • Cairn.info: Full text French language publications in the disciplines of economics, political science, sociology, law, history, and  psychology, education, and more.
  • China Academic Journals: Access to Chinese academic periodicals in social science, economics/politics/law, history/philosophy, and education.
  • Contemporary women's issues: Provides information about women in over 190 countries.
  • Country Studies - Library of Congress: Book-length country profiles previously published in hardcover by the Library of Congress between 1988 and 1998.
  • CountryWatch forecast: A globally integrated 5-year macroeconomic forecast for each country of the world.
  • eHRAF World Cultures: A collection of full-text primary source materials on ca. 400 different cultural, ethnic, religious and national groups in the following regions of the world: Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America, Oceania, Eurasia and South America. Access is via keyword, as well as through geographic (OWC) codes and a topical (OCM) classification scheme.
  • Europa World plus: Provides economic, political, historical, and geographic profiles of 250+ countries and global regions. Contact information for political, business, media, and cultural agencies and officials, including 1,900 international organizations. Search or browse by country, region, organization, or people.
  • Economist Intelligence Unit Country Reports: This database is a unique online archive of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)'s quarterly country reports, from their beginning in 1952 up to 1995. The reports combine detailed statistical information with expert commentary and analysis from the EIU's analysts, providing high quality summaries of political, economic and commercial developments in almost 200 countries

  • International Bibliography of the Social Sciences: Core social sciences and related materials from over 100 countries in more than 90 languages. Coverage 1951 to the present.

  • PARLINE Database: Information about parliaments in over 190 countries

Economic & Political Databases

  • CIAO (Columbia International Affairs online: A wide range of scholarship that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences.
  • EconLit: Comprehensive, indexed bibliography of worldwide literature on economics from over 300 major economics journals, books, and collected volumes. Coverage: 1969-present.
  • EMIS-Emerging Markets Information Service: Provides general news and financial and economic information on emerging market countries. ​
  • Hispanic American Periodical Index (HAPI): Articles in scholarly journals published in Latin America and the Caribbean, or those dealing with topics relating to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Hispanic Americans.
  • International Political Science Abstract: Indexes and abstracts articles in the field of political science, including the sub-fields of public administration, political theory and international relations.
  • OECD iLibrary: Includes all OECD books, reports, periodicals and statistical databases. Coverage: 1988 to the present, updated weekly.
  • PAIS: Citations and abstracts for publications related to public affairs, 1915 to the present.
  • Worldwide Political Science Abstracts: Provides access to citations and abstracts of journal articles appearing in political science journals. Coverage: 1975 to the present.

Social Science Databases

  • Family & society studies worldwide: Provides citations and some abstracts in social work, social science and family practice.
  • International Bibliography of the Social Science: Core social sciences and related materials from over 100 countries in more than 90 languages. Coverage 1951 to the present.
  • PovertyNet: Sponsored by the WorldBank, PovertyNet offers comprehensive coverage, including measurements, trends, and strategies to reduce poverty. Special sections address the intersection of poverty with culture and health. Includes the Poverty Monitoring database and an online library.
  • Sage Research: Coverage includes more than 555 SAGE journals, more than 175,000 articles, book reviews, and editorials, with original graphics and tables in the following disciplines: Communication Studies, Criminology, Education, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology.
  • Science Direct: Web database for scientific research that contains abstracts, tables of contents, and full text of articles in the sciences, technology, medicine and social sciences.
  • Sociological Abstracts: Provides access from 1963 to the present to journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.