LibGuides: A-Z Database List: Home

What is a database?

Databases are collections of references to journal articles, chapters in books, book reviews, conference proceedings, reports and in some cases, theses and dissertations.

In many cases databases include the full text of journal articles. Access to these databases is paid for by the University.

In some cases only the abstract is available. In this case, you will need to search World Cat Local ('Search all' tab) to see if the journal is available in UKZN library in print.

If the library does not subscribe to the journal you will need to get a copy of the article from another institution by using the Inter Library Loan facility.

Databases A-Z provides links to all of UKZN's subscription databases.

Online databases

Online databases are most useful for finding articles when you do not know in which journals articles are published.

Some databases are multidisciplinary and cover a wide range of subjects e.g. Academic Search Complete via EbscoHost; while others are subject specific, covering a particular subject or discipline e.g. PsycInfo via EbscoHost.

Other databases are limited to particular geographic areas, Sabinet covers Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa.

Open access journal databases

DOAJ : Directory of Open Acess Journals
The DOAJ aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content. In short, the DOAJ aims to be THE one stop shop for users of open access journals.

Some examples:

Taylor & Francis Online: Taylor & Francis Open
Taylor & Francis and Routledge currently publish a number of pure open access journals. All of the articles in these journals are published open access. The articles in these journals receive both rigorous peer-review and expedited online publication.
Sabinet Open Access Journals
The collection currently comprises 46 South African journals, which may be searched individually, and provides immediate access to the PDF versions of 6 000+ full-text articles.
SciELO
The Scientific Electronic Library Online; an initiative for developing countries, originated in Brazil and includes many South African journals

How do I access databases from off Campus?

Use the Off-campus Access link if you are not on campus.

You will need a valid LAN username and password to access databases from off-campus. This refers to the username and password you use to access the computers on campus.

For more information on accessing UKZN library e-resources from off-campus, consult our FAQ's