Many search engines and tools that locate information across library collections and other organizations, in physical archives or in online repositories, are built and maintained by commercial providers. These may be supported by advertising or by licensing fees so that costs of use are not presented directly to the user, but there may be implications for maintenance or development, and in approaches to managing content and user data.
There are alternatives that seek to rely on open infrastructure and open data to connect researchers to research information, including openly accessible content. Frequently these are found under the auspices of universities or not-for-profit organizations. Some of these alternatives include:
The databases listed below offer full or partial open access to content. Navigate to the subjects below to start exploring:
Searches from this VIU-authenticated version of Google Scholar link to VIU resources where applicable. Search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
To learn more about Open Data, be sure to also check out the Open Data page.
World Development Indicators by country, with tools for comparison and reporting; presented together with other databases on development topics.
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