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International Relations *

A guide to databases and scholarly online sources that support conducting research in international relations and comparative politics.

International Health and Welfare Research Resources

Below are links to databases and electronic resources that support the study of international health and welfare and related areas of research.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY DATABASES

Databases that offer multidisciplinary coverage of international health and welfare literature from scholarly and non-scholarly sources.

  • Credo Reference -- comprehensive collection of highly-specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks across all subject areas. Good place to go for succinct definitions, explanations, and analysis of concepts, theories, or topics.
  • Google Scholar -- the scholarly part of the Google empire. To set up Google Scholar with access to full-text journals and databases, go here.
  • JSTOR -- a multidisciplinary archive of scholarly journal articles covering most major disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. Useful for identifying historical research on a topic.
  • Oxford Handbooks Online -- contains in-depth, high-level articles covering a variety of disciplines. Entries offer a thorough introduction to topics and a critical survey of the current state of scholarship, creating an original conception of the field and setting the agenda for new research.
  • ProQuest Multiple -- comprehensive, multidisciplinary database of newspaper, magazine, and scholarly journal articles updated daily. Content is more focused and manageable in locating relevant research than Google Scholar.

SPECIALIZED RESEARCH RESOURCES

Key Databases

  • Global Health -- comprehensive database for global and public health issues and policies. Content focuses on research about international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety and hygiene, and more. The database contains more than three million records dating back to 1973. Publications from over 100 countries in 50 languages are abstracted, and all relevant non-English-language papers are translated to give access to research not available through any other database.
  • Global Index Medicus -- provides worldwide access to biomedical and public health literature produced by and within low-middle income countries. The main objective is to increase the visibility and usability of this important set of resources. The material is collated and aggregated by World Health Organization Regional Office Libraries on a central search platform allowing retrieval of bibliographical and full text information.
  • PubMed@USC -- comprehensive open access search engine for archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine. Also covers non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, and much more. Currently contains more than seven million full-text records, spanning several centuries of biomedical and life science research (late 1700s to present). This is an excellent source for global health topics. This version of PubMed is customized for USC users to find the full-text of articles.

Related Research Resources

  • CINAHL -- provides abstracts on a wide range of health topics focused on nursing and related medical support staff, including health education, health management, and behavioral sciences and consumer health. Provides some international perspective, with a focus on English-speaking countries.
  • Disaster Lit: Database for Disaster Medicine and Public Health -- a clearinghouse of open access guidelines, research reports, conference proceedings, training classes, fact sheets, websites, and similar materials related to the medical and public health aspects of planning, mitigation, response, recovery, and research related to disasters and public health emergencies. Good source for studies regarding health-related issue due to disasters.
  • EMBASE -- comprehensive pharmacological and biomedical database that provides access to over more than 29 million citations for journal articles and conference proceedings. Also includes extensive indexing of drug information. Journal coverage from 1947 to the present. This version has been customized for USC users to find the full-text of articles from library holdings.
  • Environment Index -- provides access to articles from domestic and international journals, books and conference papers covering applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine and freshwater science, geography, pollution and waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. Important source for searching literature on the relationship between health and the environment.
  • Global Health Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry -- an open access database of cost-effectiveness analysis research studies published since the 1990s that evaluate the economic value of a variety of health interventions worldwide. The Registry focuses on interventions designed to mitigate disease burden in countries at various stages of industrial development, using the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) as the primary measure of health.
  • Healthcare Administration  Database -- this database is a collection of reliable and relevant resources in the field of health administration, including journals and dissertations that cover hospitals, insurance, law, statistics, business management, personnel management, ethics, health economics, and public health care administration.
  • The Lancet Global Health Portal – contents include articles from the medical journal, The Lancet, as well as reports, podcasts, and other information produced by an international community of researchers, public health experts, and policy makers focusing on issues and trends in global health for the purpose of advancing the right to health, health equity, and social justice. NOTE: The portal is open access, but you must create a personal account to get that access.
  • LILACS: Latin American and Caribbean Health Science Literature -- a cooperative database of peer reviewed journals, thesis and dissertations, government documents, annals of congresses and books published since 1982 by Latin-American writers in the field of health sciences which is not included in other international databases. Twenty-seven Latin-American and Caribbean countries participate in the project under the auspices of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a regional office of the World Health Organization. Searches can be conducted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.
  • Sociological Abstracts -- primary resource for accessing the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and doctoral dissertations. Helpful for understanding the social aspects of global healthcare.
  • Water Resources Abstracts -- provides summaries from 1967 to the present of the world's technical, scientific, and public policy literature on water-related topics covering the characteristics, conservation, control, pollution, treatment, use and management of water resources as well as the legal aspects of water supply, use, control, or management. Excellent source for studies about water-born diseases and their effects.

NEWS SITES AND BLOGS


GROUP PERSPECTIVE

Databases that offer the opportunity to understand and contemplate the implications of international health and welfare through the eyes of people who may be most impacted by those decisions.

  • AgeLine -- focuses exclusively on issues of aging and the population of people aged 50 years and older from individual, national, and global perspectives. Contents cover the social, psychological, economic, policy, and health care aspects of aging derived from journal articles, books and chapters, research reports, and dissertations.
  • Chicano Database -- focuses on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, and the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants since 1992. Covers Chicano/a art, education, folklore, health. history, labor, language and literature, music, politics, public policy, religion, sociology, and women's studies.
  • Child Development and Adolescent Studies -- provides citations to current and historical social and behavioral sciences literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21, including from scholarly journals, technical reports, books, book chapters, and theses and dissertations. Key database for locating studies about the immigration and forced migration on children, children's rights, and issues such child separation and detention.
  • Ethnic NewsWatch -- includes current and archival coverage of newspapers, magazines and journals from ethnic and minority presses. Very important database for gaining an understanding of immigration from the perspective of underrepresented groups, minorities, and indigenous cultures.
  • Family and Society Studies Worldwide -- covers research, policy, and practice literature in family science, human development, child and family welfare, civil and legal rights, and social welfare from a wide range of publications in the social sciences. Includes research about the relationship and impact of immigration and migration on families.
  • LGBTQ+ Life -- comprehensive resource to the world's literature regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and transsexual issues. Coverage includes traditional academic, lifestyle, and regional publications, as well as non-periodical content, such as, non-fiction books, bibliographies, and dissertations.
  • Women’s Studies International -- an interdisciplinary database that covers issues in women's studies including feminist theory and history and the areas of sociology, history, political science and economy, public policy, international relations, arts and humanities, business and education. Key database for locating studies about the impact of immigration, migration, and resettlement on women.

DATA AND STATISTICS--COMPREHENSIVE

  • Google Dataset Search -- facilitates searching approximately 25 million datasets provided by government, public, and private groups. Users can filter results based on the type of data desired [e.g., images or text]. Data availability is based on the original source being formatted using schema.org standards, an open discovery standard for data on the web.
  • National Statistical Offices -- a directory of country-specific statistical agencies maintained and updated by the United Nations Statistics Division. Also included is a list of countries and organizations which includes a brief history of the country's statistical system, legal basis, the statistical program and much more.
  • UNData -- searchable statistical database provided by the United Nations Statistics Division that provides access to current statistics. The database covers a number of different areas such as employment, industry, and trade. A single interface facilitates the creation of customizable tables and the use of various filters and search options to sort and locate specific statistical information.

DATA AND STATISTICS--SPECIALIZED

  • Child Mortality Estimates -- includes data and estimates of stillbirth and child mortality rates for each country based on the research of the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.
  • EQUIST (Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool) Dashboard -- an open access analytical platform designed to help decision-makers develop equitable strategies to improve health and nutrition for the most vulnerable children and women.
  • GIDON: Global Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology Network – a comprehensive database for diagnosing infectious diseases but contents also include current information about disease outbreaks and epidemiological data that can be searched for more than 200 countries and territories or in comparing disease outbreaks among countries. The database features has more than 350 maps to help track trajectory and spread of infection and features multiple ways to display data using graphs, charts, or tables that are downloadable. Content is updated daily.
  • GISAID Initiative – organization promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19. This includes genetic sequence and related clinical and epidemiological data associated with human viruses, and geographical as well as species-specific data associated with avian and other animal viruses, to help researchers understand how viruses evolve and spread during epidemics and pandemics.
  • Guttmacher Data -- data portal facilitates building, downloading, and sharing custom tables, graphs and maps utilizing data on key sexual and reproductive health state, national and global indicators from the Guttmacher Institute and other trusted sources.
  • Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Data Visualizations -- the mission of IHME is to deliver timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. This site provides innovative ways to visualize complex global health topics gathered by the organization.
  • MEASURE Demographic and Health Surveys -- contains national and sub-national data on family planning, maternal and child health, child survival, HIV/AIDS/STIs, infectious diseases, and reproductive health and nutrition. The site includes the Integrated DHS is a web based tool designed to facilitate analysis of DHS data across time and space.
  • Poverty and Equity Data Portal -- the World Bank Group’s comprehensive source for the latest data on poverty, inequality, and shared prosperity. The portal allows you to explore several poverty and inequality indicators for countries and regions as well as explore countries by various income levels – low income, lower middle income, and upper middle income, and access poverty and inequality data for fragile, IDA and other country groupings. Good source of data on world poverty that could relate to global health conditions.
  • UNAIDS -- a global database of information on HIV-AIDS, based on the United Nation’s goal of ending AIDS as a global health threat by 2030. The site provides users with a wide range of statistical data, advocacy organizations, and actionable resources in the global fight against both the epidemic itself and the stigmatization that remains around those living with HIV-AIDS. Site includes an interactive map to explore laws around HIV-AIDS in every country, data on infection rates, prevention campaigns, and testing, and financial resources directed towards HIV-AIDS. Site also site contains downloadable infographics on a range of AIDS-related topics.
  • UNICEF Data Warehouse -- designed to allow easy access to hundreds of international valid and comparable indicators on children across a range of countries, with some datasets spanning back decades. Includes data on children's health.
    • Global Abortion Policies Database -- an interactive open-access database and repository of country-level current abortion laws, policies, and national standards and guidelines.
    • Global Atlas of Infectious Diseases -- presents standardized data and statistics for infectious diseases at country, regional, and global levels supported through information on demography, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental factors.
    • Global Cancer Observatory -- this agency goal is the systematic and ongoing pursuit of reliable global cancer data and statistics as well as ensure that locally recorded high-quality cancer data is available. The organization coordinates the collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of indicators that capture the changing magnitude and profile of the disease worldwide.
    • Global Health Data Exchange -- a data catalog listing information about microdata, aggregated data, and research results with a focus on health-related and demographic datasets.
    • Global Health Expenditure Database -- provides comparable data on health expenditure for 192 countries over the past 20 years. Health spending indicators are key guides for monitoring resource, provision of transparency and supporting the accountability of health financing systems. The present time series is from 2000 to 2019, up to the COVID-19 pandemic period.
    • Global Health Observatory -- repository is WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for its 194 Member States. It provides access to over 1000 indicators on priority health topics including mortality and burden of diseases, the Millennium Development Goals (child nutrition, child health, maternal and reproductive health, immunization, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected diseases, water and sanitation), non communicable diseases and risk factors, epidemic-prone diseases, health systems, environmental health, violence and injuries, equity among others.
    • Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing Data Portal -- contains the most up-to-date global health data, including regional and country data organized separately in the areas of maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and ageing. These export data files can be visualized on charts and maps. In addition, the site includes links to other departments within WHO and other UN agencies where additional data and information in specific areas of interest can be found.
    • National Health Workforce Accounts Data Portal -- monitors of a set of country-level indicators to support achievement of Universal Health Coverage, Sustainable Development Goals and other health objectives. Free but registration required.
    • Nutrition Landscape Information System (NLiS) -- a World Health Organization tool which provides nutrition and nutrition-related health and development data in the form of country profiles and user-defined downloadable data.
    • Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) -- created by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme, this global database includes estimates of progress in household drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene since 2000. The database includes over 5,000 national data sources with information on WASH in households including nationally representative household surveys, censuses and administrative reports.

Descriptions of resources are adapted or quoted from vendor websites.