Library Databases

Library databases provide the ability to focus searches by subject area, sort results according to date and relevance, and will never charge you to access the full-text of an article.

There are two major types of library databases to consider when conducting article-based research:

• Multidisciplinary: These databases typically cover scholarly articles published across a wide variety of disciplines, similar to Google Scholar. Links to an external site. Provide excellent breadth, but may lack in depth for a given subject.
• Subject-specific: Databases of this type tend to limit their coverage to journals that are relevant to a single subject or cluster of subjects, e.g. physics or environmental studies. Provide excellent depth, but may not return as many results as a multidisciplinary database.

Disciplinary and subject-specific databases can be identified by looking at the Research Guide associated with your area of study. 

Multidisciplinary Databases

Depending on your field of study, you may find that you prefer to start your research with a multidisciplinary database and later focus your search within a subject-specific database at a later juncture. Today you will learn more about the following databases:

• Web of Science
• Academic Search Complete
• JSTOR

You can find access these databases, and many more, through the UW Libraries  Articles & Research Databases list.

Web of Science 

Web of Science is a multidisciplinary database that provides access to thousands of journals, including Open Access journals, and conference proceedings in the sciences, social sciences, technology, medicine, and arts & humanities.  This database is popular with researchers in STEM fields, although their coverage clearly extends to other disciplines as well.

Web of Science includes:

• An extensive citation network-- view number of times cited, cited references & related records
• The ability to easily export citations to Mendeley, EndNote, Zotero, and RefWorks
• The ability to create a free account to save searches and receive alerts
• Links directly to full-text articles, when available

Find Web of Science in our Articles & Research Databases list and from the front page of the Health Sciences Library website.

Want to learn more? View the Web of Science Links to an external site. short tutorial.

Academic Search Complete

Academic Search Complete Links to an external site. is a multidisciplinary database owned by EBSCO that offers an enormous collection of full-text journals, including many sources that are not otherwise covered by Web of Science. It is especially popular with researchers in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, but provides useful coverage for all major disciplines, including STEM fields. 

JSTOR

JSTOR Links to an external site. is a multidisciplinary database that offers a somewhat smaller selection of academic journals than some databases, but specializes in full-text coverage as well as extensive access to journal back issues.  In addition to articles, JSTOR also covers scholarly books and primary source documents. Because it lacks coverage to the most recent 3-5 years of most journals, it is most popular with researchers in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.