Dimensions
Digital Science's linked-data platform — the database that connects publications to the grants, patents, clinical trials, and policy documents around them.
Tier 1 AcademicFreemium
Every research database, reviewed.
RSRCHDB is an independent, opinionated directory of the databases and tools researchers actually use — from Web of Science and Scopus to OpenAlex, PubMed, and Zotero. For each one: an honest take, the at-a-glance facts, and the power tips most people miss.
Browse by category
Featured databases
Europe PMC
The open, full-text gateway to biomedical and life-sciences literature — PubMed's more open cousin.
Tier 1 Open AccessFree
OpenAlex
The fully open, CC0 index that set out to replace Scopus and Web of Science — bigger, free, and built for the Global South.
Tier 1 Open AccessFree
Scopus
Elsevier's curated abstract and citation database — Web of Science's biggest rival, and broader in scope.
Tier 1 AcademicSubscription
Statista
The statistics portal that turns scattered market and survey data into citable charts — fast, broad, and secondary.
Tier 1 CorporateFreemium
Web of Science
Clarivate's publisher-neutral citation index — six decades of curated, cover-to-cover indexing built around the citation as the unit of discovery.
Tier 1 AcademicSubscription
About RSRCHDB
Finding the right database is half the research battle — and the choices are overwhelming. RSRCHDB cuts through it. We profile each major research database and tool the way a seasoned analyst would brief a colleague: what it covers, what it costs, who it's really for, and the trade-offs the marketing pages won't mention.
Every profile follows the same format — an at-a-glance summary, our honest take, and the power tips that turn a casual search into a defensible one. We're publisher-neutral, we flag figures that need verifying, and we point you to free alternatives wherever they exist.
New profiles and a weekly newsletter featuring one or two databases plus the latest research-tools news are on the way.
What the tiers mean
- Tier 1 The essentials — the handful of databases almost every researcher encounters, whatever their field. These are our featured profiles.
- Tier 2 Major resources — widely used and well established within their disciplines. Once your field is settled, these are the ones you'll reach for most.
- Tier 3 Specialist and supporting — narrower subject coverage, or one specific job in the research workflow. Indispensable if it's your area, skippable if it isn't.