Research Guides: African Studies: Journals, Databases, and Dissertations

Open Access African Sources

AfricaBib.org
AfricaBib is a collection of Africana social science titles, presented in one easily accessible location on the internet. The site consists of two bibliographic databases covering Africana periodical literature (Africana Periodical Literature Bibliographic Database) and African Women's literature (African Women Bibliographic Database). You will also find a comprehensive bibliography on women travelers and explorers to Africa (Women Travelers, Explorers and Missionaries to Africa Bibliographic Database).
Archive of African Journals - Michigan State University
The African e-Journals Project is a project of the Michigan State University African Studies Center, MSU Libraries, and Matrix: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Science Online. It is co-sponsored by the Association of African Universities and the African Studies Association in the U.S.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
The aim of DOAJ is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact.
Eldis - Africa South of the Sahara
The aim of Eldis was to support the documentation, exchange, and use of evidence-based development knowledge, and to communicate this knowledge effectively through a range of appropriately designed services.
The Eldis programme closed in June 2024 after more than 28 years of operation. The Eldis website is now a static archive.

Find Journals

You can use the SU Libraries' Journal locator to search our directory of over 28,000 titles

Featured Database

Great for reports or statistical data on topics such as women in the DRC.

SURFACE

Syracuse University's major initiative in open access and preservation of scholarly and creative output emanating from the University is the SU Library hosted database SURFACE (Syracuse University Research Facility and Collaborative Environment)

Watch for the SULinks Icon

When searching our literature databases, this link will take you to the full-text of journal articles available online through our SU Library subscriptions.

Core Literature Databases for African Studies

Africa Knowledge Project (AKP)
Journal articles, research, folktales, music, and video across the humanities and social sciences, from and about Africa and the African diaspora.
Africa-Wide Information
South African produced index including journals, books, and documents covering Africa and African studies. Content includes the Index to South African Periodicals, IBISCUS, Africa Institute Database, African Journal Online, Media Africa, and NAMLIT, from the National Library of Namibia.
African Journals Online: AJOL
Free registration required.
Index of African-published journals covering agricultural sciences, science and technology, health and social sciences.
EconLit
Index published by the American Economic Association of articles, chapters, and dissertations related to all fields of economics.
Economist Intelligence Unit
Reports, analysis, and data from the Economist Intelligence Unit related to the industries, and the economy in numerous countries.
JSTOR
Full-text archive of scholarly publications, including ebooks, in mathematics, science, the arts and humanities, and the social sciences.
OECD Publications
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Library of publications, including articles, books, working papers, and data sets covering agriculture, development, energy, transportation, and more.
PAIS Index
Index to journal articles, books, government documents, reports, and papers, covering public affairs and policy.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ Syracuse University
Dissertations and theses from Syracuse University, from 1870 to the present.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global
Index to dissertations and theses from around the world rom 1743 to the present day and with full text for many primarily from 1997.
Scopus
Abstracts and citations of journals, books, conference proceedings, and patents covering science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities, includes Scopus AI.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Abstracts and indexing of journal literature in political science, international relations, law, and public administration/policy.

Journals

African Affairs
African Affairs is published on behalf of the Royal African Society and is the top ranked journal in African Studies. It is an inter-disciplinary journal, with a focus on the politics and international relations of sub-Saharan Africa. It also includes sociology, anthropology, economics, and to the extent that articles inform debates on contemporary Africa, history, literature, art, music and more.
African Journal of Information and Communication
The African Journal of Information and Communication is published by the Learning Information Networking and Knowledge (LINK) Centre, Graduate School of Public and Development Management, Univ. of Witwatersrand, South Africa. It is published as a forum for research, scholarship and academic debate within the broad ICT sector across the continent of Africa.
Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies
JPAS is a trans-disciplinary peer reviewed scholarly journal devoted to the intellectual synthesis of research, scholarship and critical thought on the African experience.