Library guides and databases: EBSCOhost databases: What is EBSCOhost?

What is EBSCOhost?

The EBSCOhost interface provides access to a range of databases, e-journals and e- books. The databases are particularly useful for identifying journal articles and other publications on a particular topic within the subject areas covered by each database. You can also search across more than one database at a time.

New EBSCOhost user interface coming soon

A new EBSCOhost user interface is coming soon. A guide to using the new interface is in preparation and will be available here soon.

Action needed: if you have set up a personal account you will need to take action now to save your searches; you can link to some instructions below.

For UCL staff and students the databases will be switching to the new interface on 31st July 2025.
For NHS staff, accessing EBSCOhost database through NHS England OpenAthens, the switch will be later this year. We will provide updated information once a precise date for this has been confirmed.

How to save your EBSCOhost searches

Which databases are available through EBSCOhost?

Alternative Press Index (1991-) & Alternative Press Index Archive (1969-1990) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Bibliographic database of journal, newspaper, and magazine articles from international alternative, radical, and left periodicals. Coverage from 1969 onwards.
America: History and Life See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Anthropology Plus See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Including the indexing from Anthropological Literature and Anthropological Index Online, Anthropology Plus provides worldwide indexing of core and lesser known journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. Coverage is from the late 19th century to the present.
Applied Science & Business Periodicals Retrospective: 1913-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Archive of citations covering the history of business and industry between 1913 and 1983.
Applied Science & Technology Index Retrospective: 1913-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Containing millions of citations, this archive index covers important historical scientific studies and discoveries between 1913 and 1983. Indexing and citations include book reviews and the complete files of Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957)
Art & Architecture Source See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database covers a broad range of related subjects, from fine, decorative and commercial art, to various areas of architecture and architectural design.
Art Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Archive index chronicling over a half a century of art literature. Covering fine, decorative and commercial art, it indexes hundreds of publications, plus thousands of book reviews, interviews, anthologies and more.
Atla - Perspectives on Ancient Civilizations, 1200-1922 See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. An archive of publications related to ancient civilizations and cultures from to the Biblical and Classical periods. It features cultures that existed alongside the Hebrew people and had an influence on the formation of Hebrew scriptures.
Biography Index Retrospective: 1946-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Containing thousands of citations, Biography Index Retrospective is an archive index covering notable individuals from antiquity through 1983. Indexing and citations include book reviews, interviews, obituaries, diaries and memoirs.
Book Review Digest Retrospective: 1903-1982 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Providing over a million book review citations from 1903 to 1982. This archive covers adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction and provides at least one review excerpt per book.
British Education Index (EBSCO) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Database of information on research, policy and practice in education and training in the UK. Particular strengths include aspects of educational policy and administration, evaluation and assessment, technology and special educational needs. Useful resource for museum education.
Business Periodicals Index Retrospective: 1913-1982 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. An archive index covering nearly 70 years of business scholarship. Indexing and citations include scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines and the complete files of Industrial Arts Index (1913-1957).
Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Offering access to full-text journals including Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and MIS Quarterly, plus business videos from top providers. BSU spans various business topics, from current trends to historical information and global perspectives. . Accessibility statement for Business Source Ultimate.
Chicano Database See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Database focusing on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, as well as the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants. Explores the broad dimensions of class, race and gender within the Chicano and Latino U.S. experience.
Child Development and Adolescent Studies See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Provides references to the current and historical literature related to the growth and development of children through the age of 21. Covering more than 400,000 records, including all issues of Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography from 1927-2001. Over 10,000 new records are added each year.
CINAHL Plus See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database can be accessed by no more than 4 users at a time. The authoritative source of information for the professional literature of nursing, allied health, biomedicine, and healthcare.
Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source (EBSCO) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source covers all facets relating to the areas of dentistry including dental public health, endodontics, facial pain & surgery, odontology, oral & maxillofacial pathology/surgery/radiology, orthodontology, pediatric dentistry, periodontology, and prosthodontics.
EconLit See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database can be accessed by no more than 4 users at a time. Index of international publications on economics, with selected abstracts.
Education Abstracts See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Covering key areas of education and related fields, content areas include educational specialties and administration. Includes indexing and abstracts for more than 1,000 periodicals and yearbooks (indexing dating back to 1983, abstracts back to 1994) and books on education published after 1995.
Education Index Retrospective: 1929-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Archive index chronicling over a half a century of important education literature. Covering all levels of education and education specialties, it indexes hundreds of publications, many of them peer-reviewed.
Educational Administration Abstracts See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Includes bibliographic records covering areas related to educational administration such as educational leadership, educational management and educational research. The index contains more than 190,000 records.
ERIC (EBSCO) Please note that ERIC will be undergoing a significant overhaul by the 24th April 2025 and new content from some journals will no longer be included. Please see the e-resources blog post for more information. See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. The Education Resource Information Center provides access to educational literature and resources. This database provides access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index.
Essay and General Literature Retrospective (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Reference database citing records contained in collections of essays and miscellaneous works published in the United States, Great Britain and Canada
European Views of the Americas: 1493 to 1750 See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. A free archive of indexed publications related to the Americas and written in Europe before 1750. It includes thousands of valuable primary source records covering the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of Native American peoples.
GreenFILE See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Index of scholarly, government and general-interest publications, covering all aspects of human impact on the environment.
Historical Abstracts See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database can be accessed by no more than 6 users at a time. Complete reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excl. the United States and Canada - see America: History and Life).
History of Science, Technology & Medicine (EBSCO) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database can be accessed by no more than 1 user at a time. Integrates four bibliographiesthe Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology, the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Containing over a million citations, this archive index covers important humanities and social sciences journals published from 1907 to 1984. High-quality indexing includes articles and book reviews.
Humanities International Index See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Humanities International Index is a comprehensive database covering journals, books and other important reference sources in the humanities.
Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (EBSCO) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Index to Legal Periodicals & Books provides indexing of 850 legal journals, law reviews, yearbooks, institutes, bar association publications, university publications, and government publications, as well as coverage of 1,400 monographs per year.
JET Magazine Archive See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Covering art, news, politics and other social topics with an African-American focus, this archive includes over 3,100 issues providing a broad view of culture, fashion and entertainment from its first issue in 1951 until 2014.
Library and Information Science Source See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Includes full text for more than 460 publications and indexing for hundreds of high-quality journals, as well as books, research reports and proceedings.
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. LISTA indexes 580 core journals, over 50 priority journals, and nearly 125 selective journals; plus books, research reports and proceedings. Coverage in the database extends back as far as the mid-1960s. Content is also part of Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA).
Library Literature & Information Science Retrospective: 1905-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Chronicling nearly 80 years of library scholarship, this archive includes thousands of citations that cover the innovations, controversies and people instrumental in the making of modern librarianship.
Linguistics Abstracts Online See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Index of articles from linguistics journals. Includes abstracts.
MLA Directory of Periodicals See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. MLA Directory of Periodicals provides detailed records for journals and book series published in the MLA International Bibliography’s areas of coverage
MLA International Bibliography See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. International database on language, literature, linguistics and folklore.
Nation Archive, 1865-2020 See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Covering 150 years of the Nation Magazine, this archive contains thousands of historic articles, editorials, letters, reviews, poems, and puzzles dating back to the magazine's first issue in 1865.
OpenDissertations See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. OpenDissertations, is an open-access database built to assist researchers in locating both historic and contemporary dissertations and theses. Links to full-text where available.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Indexing over three million articles from more than 550 leading magazines including full coverage of the original print volumes of Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature. This resource offers information about history, culture and seminal developments across nearly a century.
Regional Business News See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Regional Business News provides bibliographic and full-text coverage of more than 80 regional business publications within the United States
Short Story Index Retrospective: 1915-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This archive indexes tens of thousands of short stories across all literary genres. Subject indexing includes topics, themes, locales, genre and people.
Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1983 (H.W. Wilson) See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Forms part of the Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 (H.W. Wilson)
SPORTDiscus with Full Text See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. This database can be accessed by no more than 8 users at a time. Index of publications covering sport, fitness and related disciplines.
Teacher Reference Center See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. The Teacher Reference Center provides indexing and abstracts for over 280 of the most popular teacher and administrator trade journals to assist professional educators.
Time Magazine Archive See the LibrarySkills@UCL guide to EBSCOhost. Collection of the prominent weekly news magazine dating back to its first issue in March 1923 until December 2000, presented in a cover-to-cover format.

Latest news: changes to ERIC database

ERIC - a key indexing database for education and the social sciences - is undergoing significant changes whose full implications aren't clear yet.

At this stage it appears that new content will continue to be indexed and no existing content will be removed unless it is retracted by its publisher.

The US Institute of Education (IES) is currently estimating the volume of content which will be indexed next year and will share further information in due course (last updated 4th July 2025).

What do you think?

We would love to know what you think of this guide. Please help us by completing this short form?

LibrarySkills@UCL Online guides: your feedback

Database searching training sessions

View our full calendar and make a booking

Introduction to EBSCOhost: interface overview

Introduction to EBSCOhost: interface overview
Video (4 mins 08 secs)