Research Guides: Social Work: Guide for Field Instructors: Open Access Resources

Directories & Indexes

Listed open access resources recommended by the Association of College & Research Libraries as a means for social workers to gain access to research for ongoing professional development and evidence-based practice.

BioMed Central
Provides free access to over 290 academic (some peer-reviewed) journals in Biology, Clinical Medicine, and Health.

Directory of Open Access Journals
Community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.

The National Academies Press
Created by the National Academy of Sciences to publish the reports of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Provides free access to books on relevant topics for social workers.
OpenDOAR - The Directory of Open Access Repositories
OpenDOAR is an authoritative directory of academic open access repositories. Provides the ability to search for repositories or to search repository contents.
ROAD - Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources
Search open access journals, conference proceedings, academic repositories, monograph series, and scholarly blogs.
Sherpa/RoMEO
An online resource that aggregates and analyses publisher open access policies from around the world and provides summaries of self-archiving permissions and conditions of rights given to authors on a journal-by-journal basis.
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
A repository for scholars to share their research in the social sciences.
SpringerOpen
Access to over 200 peer-reviewed fully open access journals in all areas of science.
Also includes a growing collection of open access books.

Journals

Advances in Social Work
A peer-reviewed, open access journal that addresses current issues, challenges, and responses facing social work practice and education.
Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum
A peer-reviewed resource "oriented toward the understanding and practice of social justice, broadly defined."
Columbia Social Work Review
An annual peer-reviewed journal for up-and-coming scholars in the field of social work to share their research with faculty, fellow students, and the wider scholarly community.
Early Childhood Research & Practice
A peer-reviewed journal from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Covers the development, care and education of young children.
Early Childhood Research & Practice stopped publishing new issues in 2015. This website serves as an archive for past issues.
Journal of Family Strengths
The Journal of Family Strengths (JFS), formerly Family Preservation Journal, is an open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed online journal produced by the CHILDREN AT RISK Institute in partnership with the Texas Juvenile Crime Prevention Center - Prairie View A&M University and The TMC Library.
Social Work Today
News, current issues, and job ads for social workers

Other Catalogs

Govinfo.gov
Provides free online access to official United States Federal Government publications
WorldCat
Global catalog that indexes collections from 72,000 participating libraries in 170 countries.

Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
The finding tool for electronic and print publications from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the U.S. government.
Google Books
Search the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books.

Ask a Librarian

Need research assistance? One-on-one help is available via the Library’s Virtual Reference Room in Blackboard or phone (325-486-6534) during the following hours:

Monday-Thursday: 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Saturday: 2 – 6 p.m.
Sunday: 1 – 5 p.m.

You can also contact us via

email or by posting on the Ask a Librarian Discussion Board in Blackboard.
Messages sent outside of normal service hours will be answered the next day the library is open (check Library Hours of Operation for current schedule).