About the publisher

The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an important online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes over 2.5 million bibliographic records relating to the four core social science subjects of anthropology, economics, politics and sociology, plus a range of interdisciplinary subject areas (see graphic below).

IBSS was set up in 1951 by the International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation, a non-governmental organisation recognised by Unesco, with the aim of promoting the free flow of scholarly social science information around the world. Produced by the London School of Economics and Political Science since 1989, IBSS still maintains collaborative partnerships with many international social sciences institutions who select and contribute data.

Ten reasons for using IBSS

1. Easy access to over 2.5 million bibliographic records for journal articles, reviews, books and book chapters many of which are not indexed fully on internet search engines.
2. Unique international coverage with over 50 per cent of titles published outside the US or UK, including substantial French, German, Russian and Spanish content. Records include material from 100 countries and in 60 languages.
3. Access to the latest research: IBSS is updated weekly and coverage goes back to 1951.
4. Four specialist databases - for anthropology, economics, politics and sociology - rolled into one.
5. Coverage of complementary material in related subjects, such as human geography and environment, development and area studies, which reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the social sciences today.
6. IBSS is produced by the Library at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), recognised as a centre of excellence for social science resources by the European Union.
7. Coverage of 2,800 current social science journals and approx 7,000 books and selected chapters from multi-authored books each year.
8. IBSS records are from high quality, academic publications approved by the IBSS Editorial Board and based on the journal collection of LSE.
9. IBSS includes abstracts for over 80 per cent of current journal articles and since 2007 includes book summaries.
10. Links can be set up to full text subscriptions, pay-per-view full text and library catalogues.

EBSCO and OVID offers to eIFL countries and how to subscribe

Access to IBSS is currently offered to eIFL member consortia via Ovid and EBSCO.

If you are an eIFL country coordinator and would like to learn more on how to subscribe please contact the eIFL office for further information. If you are a librarian from an institution in one of the eIFL countries and would like to learn whether your country is already subscribed or how to do it please get in touch with the eIFL country coordinator.  

Please click on the links below for further information on content provided by IBSS and supporting documents:

• IBSS web site home page
• Journals covered by IBSS
• Subject coverage
• Support materials (including product summaries in other languages)
• Editorial policy, journal selection criteria and data contributors

Support and promotional resources for librarians

IBSS has a range of print and online support and promotional materials, including leaflets, posters, 'Quick tips' user guides, 'search by subject' guides, and web tutorials. The main leaflet is also available (in PDF form) in French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

These are links to various support and promotional resources:
IBSS web site home page
Support materials (including product summaries in other languages)