Research Article

Institutional Access to Academic Databases by Discipline: What Universities Usually License

A practical guide to institutional access for academic databases by discipline, including medicine, chemistry, engineering, social sciences, and humanities.

Universities do not license the same databases for every discipline. Medicine usually gets PubMed-adjacent subscriptions like Embase and Cochrane, chemistry often gets SciFinder or Reaxys, and engineering often gets IEEE Xplore. Start with your library's A-Z list and then confirm subject-specific subscriptions with a librarian.

If you searched institutional access academic databases by discipline, the useful answer is not a generic list. It is a map of what universities usually buy for each research area.

| Discipline | Databases commonly licensed | |---|---| | Medicine | Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO | | Chemistry | SciFinder, Reaxys, Scopus, Web of Science | | Engineering and CS | IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Scopus, Web of Science | | Education and psychology | ERIC, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science | | Humanities | JSTOR, Project MUSE, MLA International Bibliography | | Business and economics | ABI/INFORM, EconLit, Business Source, Scopus |

How To Check Your Institution Fast Go to the library A-Z database page. Open the subject guide for your department. Check whether off-campus access uses EZproxy, OpenAthens, or Shibboleth. If a database is missing, ask your subject librarian rather than assuming the university does not have it.

If your institution does not license a database: use open layers first: Google Scholar, OpenAlex, PubMed, CORE request papers through interlibrary loan search for accepted manuscripts and repository copies ask whether your library offers mediated searching for specialist databases

Read next

  • Explore more on institutional access academic databases by discipline
  • Explore more on academic databases
  • Explore more on library access
  • Explore more on research databases
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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know which research databases my university has?
Start with your library's A-Z database list, subject guides, and off-campus access portal. If a subject guide exists for your discipline, it usually highlights the main licensed databases first.
Do universities give access to Scopus and Web of Science?
Many research universities do, but not all. These are expensive subscriptions, so smaller institutions may prioritize only one of them or replace them with more field-specific resources.
What if my university does not have the database I need?
Use your library's interlibrary loan or document delivery service, ask for a trial or acquisition recommendation, and rely on open discovery sources like Google Scholar, OpenAlex, CORE, and PubMed where possible.

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