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Political Science: Finding Journals

This guide provides research strategies for political science students at the University of Northern Colorado.

Browsing Journals

Use the Journal Title search to browse alphabetically, or if you know the exact name of the journal you are seeking. 

To browse for political science journals, also use the Journal Title search.  From the second drop-down menu, choose “Law, Politics & Government."

Using Indexes for a Focused Search

Links to Abstracts & Indexes are located on our Databases A to Z page.  Ask a librarian for help with choosing an index.

To focus on social scientists’ perspectives, try: Social Sciences Full Text (EBSCOhost) 1983-present. Contains indexing for more than 500 publications covering a wide range of interdisciplinary fields such as addiction studies, anthropology, corrections, economics, gender studies, gerontology, minority studies, political sciences, psychology, sociology. Indexing coverage dates back to 1983, and abstracts date back to 1994.

To find articles regarding public policy, use: PAIS International (ProQuest) 1972-present. Covers public and social policy issues related to a wide variety of disciplines including economics, law, education, political science, sociology, public administration, public health, science and technology. Contains references to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, and Internet material.

  • For a search within a smaller subset of full-text political science articles use:  Sage Journals Online -- this database includes indexing and full text of 29 political science journals.
  • For a search within a subset of full-text retrospective articles in political science use: JSTOR -- includes indexing and full text of 50 journals.  Use the "advanced search" tab and limit "discipline" to "Political Science."

To conduct a broad, multi-disciplinary search, use: Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) -- a large academic multi-disciplinary database providing indexing for over 8,000 journals and full text for nearly 4,700 (including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals). PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for some journals.

Find legislative and governmental sources here:

  • CQ Weekly
    1983-present. Congressional Quarterly's magazine on government, commerce, and politics. Includes in-depth reports on congressional issues as well as the status of bills, committee and floor activity, debates and roll-call votes.
  • GOV Info
    A searchable collection of databases including the Federal Register, the U.S. Code, the Congressional Record, recent GAO Reports, and current legislation.