These resources are freely available on the Internet to all researchers. (Disclaimer: These links are provided as a convenience; the IIRP is not responsible for the accuracy or content of any of these sites. Please contact the external site regarding questions about its content.)
New resources are added frequently; please check back periodically.
General | Education | Behavioral Sciences, Counseling & Related Areas | Restorative Justice - General | Restorative Justice - Bills & Legislation (U.S.A.) | Restorative Justice - Bills & Legislation (Outside of U.S.A.) | Open Access Scholarship | COVID-19
General
Google Scholar
Interdisciplinary database of scholarly literature from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other knowledge sites worldwide; articles, books and reprints, theses/dissertations, abstracts, conference papers, court opinions, technical reports, etc. | Google Scholar Search Tips (general) | Power Tips & Search Operators
- Compare "regular" Google, Google Scholar & subscription Library databases: What are the differences, and how will they impact my research?
EBSCO Open Research
Open access to scholarly articles, books, and journals via EBSCO beta platform; multidisciplinary subject coverage with full text. No login required.
Internet Archive
Free non-profit online library of over 41 million downloadable books and texts, 15 million audio recordings, 8 million videos and television programs, 4.4 million images and 890,000 software programs. Content comes from digitization initiatives at academic institutions, research libraries and special collections worldwide, plus individual user submissions. Books can be borrowed or downloaded with a free Internet Archive account. In addition, over 778 billion archived web pages spanning over 20 years are discoverable via the Wayback Machine. | About the Internet Archive
- Internet Archive Scholar: Specialized collection of full-text academic materials -- articles, books, pre-publication manuscripts, theses/dissertations, grey literature, ephemera, etc. -- that are invisible to other search engines because they have been taken offline, DOIs no longer resolve, host sites have restructured or disappeared, etc. However, they are still accessible via the Wayback Machine's website preservation technology and partnerships with digitizing institutions. More details here | User Guide
Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA)
Free research database for library and information science studies; provides indexing and abstracting for hundreds of key journals, books, research reports, including 240 journals. (Via EBSCOhost)
Library of Congress - Gateway to Library Catalogs
Extensive list of academic and large public library catalogs around the world. Useful for searching within specific library collections.
Oxford Research Encyclopedias
Authoritative, peer-reviewed essays provide summaries of topics in a wide array of academic disciplines, including criminology and criminal justice, education, neuroscience and psychology, politics, social work, and more. While some content is restricted to subscribers of Oxford University Press titles, a great deal is available for free.
WorldCat
Searchable database of library holdings around the world, provided by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). Enter zip or postal code to find materials in libraries in your area. | WorldCat help
Education
ERIC (Educational Resource Information Clearinghouse)
U.S. Department of Education database of journal articles, reports, dissertations and other material on education topics.
- Advanced Search Tips | ERIC Thesaurus | Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Videos: Searching eric.ed.gov | About ERIC | How ERIC can help you write a research paper | Finding the right descriptors for your search
Microsoft Education Competencies (archived site)
Designed to help educators and administrators develop professional skills and proficiencies, they can be used by school districts and other educational organizations to help fill key jobs; they are also helpful for professionals in other fields for identifying areas of improvement. Each competency includes a definition, proficiency scale, sample interview questions, activities and resources to develop skills, and examples of overuse. (Note: This web page is no longer live; content is preserved by the Internet Archive.)
Microsoft Educator Center - Anti-racism journey for educators with students
Educators must be courageous and confident in their journey to fully participate in dismantling racism in their learning environments. A collaborative initiative of IIRP, Microsoft, and leading experts, this self-paced, five-course learning path helps adult learners deeply question power, privilege, and fragility to interrupt teaching practices that marginalize, isolate, and exclude BIPOC students in the classroom. The courses were created with United States K-12 educators in mind; others may also find them helpful.
Teacher Reference Center (TRC) (via EBSCOhost)
Free EBSCOhost database provides indexing and abstracts for almost 300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes best practices, curriculum development, literacy standards, pedagogy, instructional media, school administration and more | TRC journal list
Behavioral Sciences, Counseling & Related Areas
APA Dictionary of Psychology
Free online dictionary of behavioral sciences-related terminology.
APA PsycNET
Free search engine for PsychARTICLES and PsychBOOKS journal papers and book chapters published by the American Psychological Association and partner organizations, indexing a wide array of behavioral sciences. Select the Open Access checkbox to retrieve free material. Paywalled full text is available via Interlibrary Loan (IIRP faculty, staff and current students only) or purchase. Additional databases and content are available for a fee.
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Children's Bureau (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) database indexes peer-reviewed articles, books, reports and audiovisual materials for professionals in child welfare; topics include child abuse prevention, out-of-home care, adoption, and more. Some items not freely available online may be purchased.
MedlinePlus / PubMed
Medical research databases from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) cover both consumer-oriented information and clinical literature on a wide array of subjects; includes public and community health topics, mental health, social/family issues, substance abuse, and demographic-specific research (children/adolescents, seniors, males/females, ethnic and cultural groups, LGBTQ+ people, etc.). MedlinePlus provides plain-English summaries of hundreds of health and drug topics for non-medical professionals, plus links to support organizations and learning tools. PubMed offers access to over 35 million citations from professional medical and life science journals and online books indexed in the MEDLINE database. | Medline and PubMed training from NLM
PTSDpubs (Via ProQuest; no login required)
Formerly PILOTS, this database indexes worldwide research literature from 1871 to present on post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological effects of trauma; it is produced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD. Coverage is not limited to PTSD in military veterans; topics include traumatic stress and mental health sequelae, assessment, prevention, treatment, mental health services, public policy, and traumatized populations (including children and youth, transgenerational trauma, survivors of abuse, violence, and war, refugees, trafficked persons, etc.). | More details
Restorative Justice - General
Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (University of Minnesota Duluth)
CRJP provides a variety of academic and training resources for research and project initiatives. The "Resources" section includes an annotated bibliography of papers on victim mediation, group conferencing and other topics.
European Forum for Restorative Justice
Non-governmental organization that promotes equitable access to restorative justice for every person in Europe. EFRJ hosts conferences, publishes newsletters and research, and sponsors projects with various partner organizations. The "Resources" page contains newsletters, reports, videos, conference material, links to key books, and a searchable database of RJ teaching programs. Country-specific communications materials are available in Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, and Hungarian.
International Juvenile Justice Observatory
Compilation of project news, training resources, regulatory information and research on juvenile justice topics worldwide, including restorative justice. | Observatorio International de Justicia Juvenil (en Español)
John Braithwaite
Collected works include monographs, articles and blog posts; searchable by document type, year and theme.
National Association for Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ)
Collection of public domain documents (reports, handbooks and other free resources). The Resource Library is free, but registration is required; once signed in, select Resources from the navigation menu.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
Federal database of articles and abstracts on topics in criminal justice and related disciplines.
RJ4All Free E-Library
Catalog of books, monographs, journal articles and other materials in the resource library at RJ4All (London). Open Access digitial materials can be downloaded. Use of the catalog is free, but registration is required.
Theo Gavrielides
Downloadable Open Access ebooks and research papers on restorative justice topics; the Internet Journal of Restorative Justice and additional content are available for purchase from RJ4All.
Restorative Justice - Bills & Legislation (U.S.A.)
Juvenile Justice Bills Tracking Database – National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
U.S. legislation, searchable by state, covering 2008 to present.
Restorative Justice - Bills & Legislation (Outside of U.S.A.)
Canada - Restorative Justice | La justice réparatrice
Includes directory (English | Français) of national, provincial and local RJ programs (choice of graphical map or text search); plus legislation and policy, and additional resources for researchers and practitioners.
Open Access Scholarship 
Books, Journals & Digital Repositories
Digital Commons Network
Free full-text content collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work. Covers approximately 5 million works from 700 institutions worldwide.
Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
Over 11,000 academic, peer-reviewed full-text books and chapters from 260 publishers.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
List of about 10,000 titles offering free access to 3 million high-quality, peer-reviewed articles in social sciences, physical and life sciences, medicine, technology and humanities.
Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR)
Curated directory of over 2,600 publicly-available digital collections of full-text content for the support and enhancement of academic and research activities for the global community. Browse and search for repositories by geographic region and country.
HathiTrust Digital Library
Collection of electronic public domain and copyrighted books, journal articles and audiovisual materials digitized by Google, Microsoft and the Internet Archive, University of California system, and other collaborating institutions. Users can create personalized collections of books and documents for later reading. Use the "full view" filter to locate freely-downloadable content.
Open University - Publicly available databases
Directory of free and Open Access resources in all subject disciplines from the Open University (UK). Content coverage is worldwide; UK resources are emphasized.
Project Gutenberg
Over 70,000 free ebooks, on all subjects and for all age groups, to read and download in a variety of formats; also some audiobooks. Titles are in the public domain.
SocArXiv
Open archive for pre-publication prints, working papers and published papers in the social sciences. Authors may submit papers for which they have open sharing rights.
SSRN (Social Science Research Network)
Digital repository of over 1.4 million research papers across 65 disciplines, including criminal justice, cognitive science, education, women's and gender studies, and more. Search for specific topics or browse papers by broad subject.
Theses & Dissertations
British Library E-Theses Online Services (EThOS)
The UK's national doctoral thesis service indexes over 500,000 works from over 120 higher education institutions; over half are available for download, either from directly from eThOS or from their home institutions. (Note: Service is currently unavailable due to a cyber-attack; more details here.)
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
Search engine for 6.5 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) from higher education institutions around the world. Global ETD Search crawls about 50 international, regional and national ETD repositories.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)
Over 4.2 million Master's and doctoral papers from 1,100 colleges, universities and research institutions worldwide.
OpenDissertations (Via EBSCOhost; no login required)
Free open access to historical and contemporary academic dissertations and theses, combining content from the American Doctoral Dissertations database with metadata from a growing list of graduate degree-granting institutions worldwide. Links to full text works at the universities or institutional repositories are included where available.
ProQuest Platform (No login required)
Subset of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global collection that enables free retrieval of academic works whose authors have opted to publish as Open Access. Also features links to ProQuest-hosted Open Access content from scholarly journals, books, and audiovisual content.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Official government information
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
- U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Research and information portals
- COVID-19 research resources (Penn State College of Medicine)
- ProQuest coronavirus research database (Open Access; no login required)
- MedlinePlus health topics: COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (testing, vaccines, drug treatments, personal protective equipment, etc.)