Key Databases
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PAIS International (Harvard Login)Comprehensive database of international policy-oriented social science literature (ranging from political science and international relations to education and public health to economics and finance), with content in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
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Policy File Index (Harvard Login)Abstracts of and links to domestic and international public policy research published by think tanks, university programs, and other research organizations.
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Policy CommonsCollection of research from the world’s leading policy experts, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs. At last count it contains over 3 million publications from more than 24,000 organizations.
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ProQuest Congressional (Harvard Login)Extensive coverage of U.S. Congress documents since 1789, including bills, the Congressional Record, congressional hearings, legislative histories, and CRS reports.
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ProQuest Government Periodicals Index (Harvard Login)Indexing and links to full text articles from over 300 periodicals published by agencies and departments of the United States Federal government.
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ProQuest Regulatory Insight (Harvard Login)Regulatory histories for U.S. public laws and executive orders; includes links to (archived) public comments as well as relating legislative histories.
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HeinOnline (Harvard Login)Major database of legal materials and publications, including law reviews, U.S. Code, U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Federal Register, etc. Some foreign law is also covered.
You may also find the following databases of interest, as they cover adjacent areas of study:
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ABI/Inform (Harvard Login) Contains articles from over 1,000 academic journals in management, marketing, and other business disciplines; it also includes trade publications, working papers, industry reports, wire feeds, newspapers, and magazines, including international publications.
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Business Source Complete (Harvard Login) Contains articles from academic journals in business, finance, management, and related disciplines, as well as trade publications and industry reports. Note: BSC is also the preferred method of online access to the Harvard Business Review.
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EconLit (Harvard Login) Indexes articles in major economics journals as well as books, book reviews, book chapters, dissertations, and working papers.
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International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) (Harvard Login) Extensive bibliography of international social science literature dating back to 1951, including books, book reviews, book chapters, and journal articles.
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Military & Government Collection (Harvard Login) Indexes current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government and offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals and related content.
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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (Harvard Login) Provides citations and abstracts of political science, international relations, and public policy scholarship published in international journals, thus providing perspectives of non-U.S. scholars.
Browse Journals
You can browse most public policy journals available at Harvard using the BrowZine platform:
Not sure exactly where to start?
The following journals are the top journals in the field of public administration by impact factor (according to Journal Citation Reports [Harvard Login]), as of 2019—as well as some other relevant periodicals from around the world:
Note: Where the full text of earlier issues of these journals is not available on the sites linked above, it is worth checking the Public Policy & Administration section in the JSTOR journal archive (Harvard Key required).
Additional, frequently cited journals include:
For less U.S.-centric public policy/administration journals, try some of the following, from around the world:
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Africa's Public Service Delivery & Preformance Review (APSDPR) Peer-reviewed, open-access journal focused on government accountability and effectiveness in Africa.
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African Journal of Public Administration and Management (Print Only) Official journal of the African Association for Public Administration and Management, published in English.
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Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies Peer-review, open access journal focusing on policy issues in the Asia-Pacific region, from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
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Cahiers africains d'administration publique / African Administrative Studies (Print Only) Journal published by the Centre africain de formation et de recherche administratives pour le développement, with articles in French, English, and Arabic.
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Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de politiques (Harvard Login) Canada-focused journal focusing primarily on social and economic policy issues.
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Cuadernos de Gobierno y Administración Pública Open-access journal on public administration and government, published at the Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain; articles in Spanish.
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Estado, gobierno, gestión pública Journal of public administration and policy studies, focused mainly on Latin America; published in Spanish, at the University of Chile.
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European Policy Analysis (Harvard Login) Peer-reviewed journal focusing on policy issues from a European perspective.
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Gestión y Política Pública Spanish-language open-access journal published by the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico; articles focus on countries throughout the Hispanophone world.
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Государственная Служба (Harvard Login) Journal on public administration and civil service in Russia; in Russian.
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公共行政评论/#/公共行政評論 / Journal of Public Administration (Harvard Login) Journal focusing on public administration in China, in Chinese.
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Halduskultuur: The Estonian Journal of Administrative Culture and Digital Governance Biannual open-access journal published by Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia; most issues follow a general theme. Articles are available in English, Estonian, Finnish, German, and Russian and focus primarily but not exclusively on public administration issues in Central and Eastern Europe.
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한국행정연구 / The Korean Journal of Public Administration (Harvard Login) Flagship journal of the quasi-official Korea Institute of Public Administration; articles are mostly in Korean.
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مدیریت دولتی / Journal of Public Administration Open-access public administration and management journal published at the University of Tehran, Iran; articles are in Farsi, with English abstracts.
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NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy Open-access journal primarily focused on public policy and administration in Central and Eastern Europe.
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Die öffentliche Verwaltung (Harvard Login) German-language journal on administrative law and public administration.
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Policy & Governance Review Open-access journal published by the Indonesian Association for Public Administration (IAPA); articles are mostly offered in English and focus on several countries in Southeast Asia, not only Indonesia.
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Public Administration and Development (Harvard Login) Focuses on public administration practices in low- and middle-income countries.
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Public Administration and Policy: An Asia-Pacific Journal Hong Kong-based, English-language open-access journal focused on questions of public policy and administration in Asia.
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Revista de administración pública Flagship public administration periodical of Spain, published by the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies of the Spanish government; articles focus primarily on Spain, with some content also covering Ibero-America, and is written in Spanish.
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Revista de administração pública / Brazilian Journal of Public Administration Open-access journal from the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV EBAPE) focusing on public policy and administration issues in Brazil (and other parts of Latin America); articles are available in Portuguese and English.
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Revue française d'administration publique (Harvard Login) Premier French journal on public administration, published at the famed École nationale d'administration (ENA); articles are written in French, but English translations are available for most.
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Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration Published by the School of Public Administration at the University of Göteborg, Sweden; articles focus on the Nordic countries but are presented in English.
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Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences Open-access journal published at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania; articles—written in English—focus on European issues of public administration and public policy, with some American perspectives also represented.
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Вопросы государственного и муниципального управления / Public Administration Issues Open-access journal published by Russia's Higher School of Economics (Высшая школа экономики); most content in Russian, with one issue per year collecting the major articles of that year in English translation.