17.9
JSTOR is a research and learning platform with scholarly and primary-source materials across more than 70 disciplines.
Free planAndroidiOSWeb
Best Academic Research Databases in 2026
Research often begins by narrowing a subject and deciding which kinds of scholarly material you need to find. JSTOR, CORE, and MAXQDA are among the academic research databases to compare on advanced search and subject coverage. Check content types, conference proceedings, and theses and dissertations to understand the material represented. Full-text access and institutional access can affect whether you can read…
27.8
MAXQDA is desktop software for qualitative and mixed methods research, including literature reviews, content analysis, interviews, questionnaires, and focus groups.
Free planWebExtensionmacOS
37.8
OpenAlex is an open catalog of scholarly research for people who need to find, query, or work with research records.
Free planOpen sourceWebAPIExtension
- 4
HeinOnline
Free planAndroidiOSWeb7.5Free plan - 5
Project MUSE
Project MUSE is a scholarly platform for humanities and social sciences content from university presses and nonprofit scholarly publishers.
AndroidiOSWebAPI7.5 - 6
Web of Science
Web of Science is a research discovery platform built around scholarly literature and citation connections.
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI7.5Free plan - 7
Academia.edu
Academia.edu is a platform for publishing and sharing research, following its impact, and finding papers across disciplines.
Free planAndroidiOSWeb7.2$1 one-time - 8
CORE
CORE is a multidisciplinary search service for open-access scholarly work collected from repositories, preprint servers, and journals.
Free planWebAPIExtensionSelf-hosted6.8Free plan - 9
EconLit
EconLit is a bibliographic database from the American Economic Association for finding economics literature.
Free planWeb6.8Free plan - 10
The Lens
The Lens is a research discovery and analysis platform connecting patent records and scholarly work.
Free planWebAPI6.8From $1,000 a year - 11
Academic Search Ultimate
Academic Search Ultimate is a paid, multidisciplinary full-text research database for scholarly work across nearly all academic subjects.
AndroidiOSWeb6.4 - 12
APA PsycInfo
Web6.4From $169 a year - 136.3
- 14
PubMed
PubMed is a free resource for searching and retrieving biomedical and life sciences literature.
Free planWebAPI6.1Free plan - 15
AGRICOLA
AGRICOLA is the National Agricultural Library’s catalog for agriculture and related fields.
Free planWeb6.0Free plan - 16
arXiv
arXiv is a curated research-sharing platform and open-access archive for scholarly articles.
Free planWebAPI6.0Free plan - 17
bioRxiv
bioRxiv is a free online archive for sharing unpublished life sciences preprints.
Free planWebAPI6.0Free plan - 18
Europe PMC
Europe PMC is a free resource for searching and reading life sciences literature, available on the web and through an API.
Free planWebAPI6.0Free plan - 19
medRxiv
medRxiv is a free online archive and distribution server for unpublished preprints in medical, clinical, and related health sciences.
Free planWebAPI6.0Free plan - 20
zbMATH Open
zbMATH Open is a free information service for mathematical research, authors, publications, references, and software.
Free planWebAPI6.0Free plan - 21
SSRN
SSRN is an open research platform for sharing early-stage work and connecting scholars across academic fields.
Free planWeb5.9Free plan - 22
ERIC
ERIC is a free searchable online library of education research, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences.
WebAPI5.7 - 23
MathSciNet
Web5.6 - 245.5
- 25
Dimensions
Dimensions is a web-based, multidisciplinary research discovery platform covering publications, datasets, grants, patents, clinical trials, policy…
Free planWeb5.5Free plan