Research Guides: Latin American Studies Resources: Articles and Databases

Important Journals

Most Latin American subject journals can be fully searched through using a combination of databases on the left such as ProQuest, JSTOR, and HAPI. and discipline related databases.

Latin American Core Databases

The databases below will help you find articles on topics relating to Latin America.

ProQuest
Access to searching all ProQuest databases simultaneously or selecting databases. Includes scholarly and popular periodicals and newspapers in the arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.
HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index
The principal index of journals on and from Latin America and the Caribbean and Hispanic Americans in the US.. Links to full text where available.
Coverage: 1970 to present.
PRISMA: Publicaciones y Revistas Sociales y Humanisticas
Scholarly articles in the social sciences and humanities relating to Iberia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinx Studies. Titles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Coverage: 1996 to present.
JSTOR
Large and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
Informe Académico
Popular Hispanic magazines (e.g., Fem, Hemisphere, Hola, Hispanic Times, Latin Beat, Latinas, PC, Proceso, Semana). Selected pamphlets in areas such as health care. Spanish thesaurus.
Coverage: 1996 to present.
Handbook of Latin American Studies
The principal index to journals and other resources on and from Latin America and the Caribbean from 1935 to present.
Coverage: 1935 to present.
Historical Abstracts
Provides indexing and links to the text of journal articles in history that relate to Spain, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Coverage: 1955 to present

Dialnet
Dialnet is a free-access database of Spanish scientific literature.
RedAlyc
Full text database of Latin American, Spanish, Caribbean, and Portuguese journals in the Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities from the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.

SciELO Scientific Electronic Library Online
Scholarly literature in the social sciences, sciences, arts, and humanities published in leading open access journals from Latin American, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.
Coverage: Open access for many journals available since the late 1990s.
Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century
Primary source documents about Latin America and the Caribbean covering current issues and events as well as historical events back to the colonial period.
Bibliografia Mesoamericana
Bibliography of the anthropology of Mesoamerica, including Mexico and parts of Central America: archaeology, ethnography, ethnohistory, art history, linguistics, and physical anthropology. Citations are to books, articles, essays, festschrifts, dissertations, obituaries, films, newspapers, manuscripts, early codices, etc.
Coverage: 1514 to present.
Readers' Guide Retrospective, 1890-1982
Index of articles from general interest magazines, such as Time, Atlantic Monthly, Century Magazine, Christian Century, Commonweal, Foreign Affairs, Fortnightly Review (London), Ladies Home Journal, Literary Digest, The Nation, New Republic. Good source for popular US coverage of Latin American events, especially political and cultural issues.
Coverage: 1890-1982.
Periodicals Archive Online
Older humanities and social sciences periodicals including some Spanish journals beginning around 1800. Companion database to Periodicals Index Online, a larger database indexing service, .
British Periodicals
Periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth. Literature, philosophy, history, science, the social sciences, music, art, drama, archaeology and architecture. Helpful for topics such as Atlantic world studies, slavery in the Caribbean, British colonial involvement.
Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC)
Tables of contents of academic and research journals published in Latin America and the Caribbean. LAPTOC consists of 975 academic and research journals published in 29 countries in the region.
Coverage: 1994 and 2009.

Ibero-Amerikanischen Instituts
Index to articles from many Latin American journals. Also can search multiple databases (e.g., HLAS). Service of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin; access to their catalog.

Google Scholar Vanderbilt Login
Use this to seamlessly access selected VU resources via Google Scholar both on and off campus.
Add VU to your Google profile: https://scholar.google.com/scholar_settings
Brazilian and Portuguese History and Culture: The Oliveira Lima Library
Pamphlets about Brazil, focused on history, politics and literature (for example: travel, immigration, public health).
Coverage: 1803-1930.

Additional subject databases

Additional Subject Related Databases with Latin American Content

AnthroSource
Archive of all journals, newsletters, and bulletins of the American Anthropological Association.
Anthropology Plus
Indexes books, articles, reports relating to all fields of anthropology, archaeology, folklore, etc. Includes materials from the late 19th century to the present. Compilation of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Anthropological Index and Harvard University's Anthropological Literature databases.
MLA International Bibliography
Indexes journals and other publications relating to Literature, language, and film criticism.
Coverage: 1926 to present.
Sociological Abstracts
Books and articles on sociology and social sciences. Useful for Latin American issues relating to development, politics, social movements, agrarian reform, family, population, indigenous rights, race, migration, and education.
Coverage: 1953 to present.
PAIS International
Public Affairs Information Service includes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical sources, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, etc. Issues relate to Latin American foreign relations and policy and topics in public debate.
Coverage: PAIS International is the current file covering 1972 to present, and PAIS Archive includes the content from printed volumes published 1915-1976.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (WPSA)
Includes references to articles in political science relating to international relations, law, and public policy. Excellent resource for Latin American topics.
Coverage: 1975 to present.
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
Working papers and policy briefs relating to international affairs from think tanks, research institutes, NGOs, etc.
Coverage: 1991 to present.
America: History and Life
Indexes books and articles relating to the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Useful for US - Latin American relations.
Coverage: 1910 to present.
Web of Science
Citation database from journals and international conference proceedings. Search of the Web of Science Core Collection includes the SciELO Citation Index (Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and South Africa). Settings will permit searching parts of the core collection (e.g., Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences). Covers 1900 to date.
HeinOnline
Legal research database. Useful for Latin Americanists for its historic foreign materials and legislative history.
Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective
Resource for journal articles and dissertations relating to art, photography, folk art.
Coverage: 1929 to present.
BHA and RILA
Literature of European and North and South American art. Includes fine art, popular and folk art, photography, performing arts (costumes, scenography) and related references from music, history and literature. Latest publications are from 2007.
Coverage: 1975-2007.
International Bibliography of Art (IBA)
Useful resource for scholarship on Latin American art covering publications from 2007 to the present.

Foreign Law Guide
Wiley Online Library
Full text access to article, books, and reference sources. Range of subjects from art to environmental studies.