About the Bibliographic Databases

In February 2008 this English-language database had indexed over 60,000 articles from over 500 English-language and multilingual journals and periodicals that specialize in African Studies or consistently cover the African continent. The work was originally begun in September of 1974 and the titles were then chosen from the library at California State University-Chico. That number was later expanded by using materials from Northwestern University and other major university libraries in the United States, as well as the Library of Congress.

Each title is indexed from its first day of publication to the present, or otherwise to the date when it ceased publication or a date when the journal or periodical no longer covered Africa on a regular basis. In only a few cases have titles been dropped due to the difficulty in obtaining copies or irregularities in the journal's publishing schedule. A title list of all journals and periodicals indexed, including the years the journals or periodicals were published and indexed, is included by a link from the front page of this database.

The titles indexed in this database represent Africana materials published in over 22 nations within North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

In November of 1999, the database began adding electronic journals to its list. These journal articles are viewable by clicking on the link that reads 'See this Document'. Until early 2008 ten electronic journals were indexed and over 3000 articles available from the Internet are included.


African Women Bibliographic Database

In February 2008 this English-language database contained over 35,000 citations from 1986 onward. The database indexes six types of materials: books and government documents; articles appearing in edited books; periodical and journal articles; Masters theses and Ph.D. dissertations as well as a few B.A. theses and honors papers; conference papers; and videocassettes.

The database indexes current and past conference papers from the following conferences and indexes:

• African Literature Association
• African Studies Association
• American Anthropological Association
• Cairo Demographic Centre
• Canadian Association of African Studies
• International AIDS Conference
• Middle East Studies Association
• Population Association of America
• Africana Conference Paper Index (Northwestern University)

The database is the outgrowth of a three-volume work published in 1989 by Greenwood Press that indexed materials on African women published during the International Women's Decade, 1976-1985.

In November of 1999 the ability to index hyperlinked documents from the Internet became a reality in the database. This will greatly increase the scope of the database and allow the indexing and viewing of documents from the Internet.

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