These resources are openly available for the public to use. Some of the sources include fully open articles (such as open access journals) and some don't guarantee access to individual articles (such as Google Scholar). Remember that if you find an article, and your college library does not have access, you can use your library's Interlibrary Loan to request a copy.
Below is a list of subscription databases. To use these databases, you'll need either: 1) access through your home college library; or 2) access UCLA's subscription via on-campus access. If your home college library doesn't have a subscription to a specific database, don't worry! There are many great resources out there. Try searching your library's database list for science-focused databases. Common database publishers include ProQuest, Clarivate, Gale, Ebsco, and Elsevier.
If you want ideas for additional databases, go to this databases page and click through to your discipline (political science, sociology, history, etc.).
UCLA Subscription Links
A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of most disciplines. Indexes major journals with all cited references captured. Combines the following citation databases: Science Citation Index Expanded; Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI); Conference Proceedings Citation Index.
Citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. Also searches NCBI's integrated molecular biology databases, including nucleotide sequences, protein sequences, 3-D protein structure data, population study data sets, and assemblies of complete genomes in an integrated system. Note: This link uses a special address which turns on Get it at UC. Without that, PubMed does not link to UCLA's online subscriptions.
Articles and e-books in the sciences, technology, medicine, and social sciences. UCLA subscribes to a subset of this collection.
Full access to thousands of articles, dictionary terms, illustrations and graphics, bibliographies containing literature citations, and hundreds of Research Updates in all areas of science and technology. Updated daily. Also includes biographies of more than 2,000 well-known scientists from the Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Includes the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.
Search platform for over 120 databases, from the AFI Catalog to Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Includes scholarly articles, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, as well as newspapers and dissertations.
Subscription Databases (non-UCLA links)
Check to see if your library has access to these databases through your home library's website!
This quick introduction to searching for academic journal articles in databases will help you make your searches more efficient and more effective:
Looking for an efficient way to get a research overview on a topic? A review article is a great place to start.
A review article provides an analysis of the state of research on a set of related research questions. Review articles often: summarize key research findings, reference must-read articles, describe current areas of agreement as well as controversies and debates, point out gaps in knowledge and unanswered questions, suggest directions for future research.
Check out this quick overview of finding review articles in Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and more.
The Library's online subscription resources can always be accessed from computers and wireless networks on campus. However, off-campus access is restricted to current UCLA, students, faculty, and staff who have set up their computer using one of the following methods.