Birmingham Newman University Library: Diversity matters: widen representation in your reading: Finding literature from the Global South

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Why is finding literature from the Global South different to finding Western literature?

Finding academic literature from the Global South often presents unique challenges compared to Western literature. This is due to several factors, including:

Research from the Global South is frequently published in regional or local journals that may not be indexed in major international databases. This can make it harder to discover compared to Western literature, which is often published in globally recognised journals.
A significant portion of Global South literature is published in local languages, which may not be accessible to a global audience accustomed to English-dominated academic publishing.
Researchers in the Global South often face limited funding and resources, which can impact the dissemination and visibility of their work on international platforms.
There is a historical bias in academic publishing that favours research from Western institutions, often sidelining valuable contributions from the Global South.

Whilst we cannot address all of these factors, there are strategies you can take to increase your chance of finding non-Western literature.

Look for Open Access journals

Open Access journals are journals that are free for anybody with an internet connection to read in their entirety, without the need for purchase. They are often more inclusive of research from underrepresented regions. Here are some suggestions of places to search:

There is some Open Access content available in Library Search. To find this content, navigate to the 'Content type' filter once you have done your keyword search. There is a checkbox to select Open Access content.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - an online directory that curates and indexes open access, peer-reviewed journals across various disciplines.
CORE - a comprehensive bibliographic database of the world’s scholarly literature, collecting and indexing research from repositories worldwide. It is believed to be the world’s largest collection of full text open access research papers

Explore databases specific to the Global South

Explore databases specific to the Global South. These platforms host local research often absent from mainstream databases. Some of the content will be Open Access so you should have no trouble accessing it. Use the library's Inter-Library Loans service to request access to paid articles - we will do our best to source them for you.

AfricArXiv: a community-led digital archive for African research. It provides a platform for African scientists to upload their working papers, preprints, accepted manuscripts (post-prints), and published papers.
AJOL (African Journals Online): the largest online collection of peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly journals.
Asian Online Journals: publishes scholarly and peer reviewed journals in the fields computing, engineering, science humanities, social sciences, management, economics, medical science, and related disciplines.
Central American Journals Online: a resource for multidisciplinary research outputs from Central America.
Open Index Initiative: a bibliographic database for most of the Indian Social Science literature and resources available in Indian libraries.
Redalyc: a platform for Latin American scientific journals, promoting open access and visibility for regional research.
SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online): a comprehensive database for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, offering open access to scientific publications.

Look for grey literature

The term 'grey literature' is used to describe lots of different sources of information that fall outside of traditional publishing streams. This can include policy papers, technical reports, government papers, conference proceedings, unpublished theses, and more. There is no perfect place to find all types of grey literature, but the following places may be a good starting point:

Policy Commons - the largest and most comprehensive content-and-discovery platform and community resource for public policy. It delivers more than 2.5 million reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media drawn from a directory of more than 8,000 IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, and research centers. Policy Commons indexes documents from 160 countries, including unique content from the Global South.
The Lens - covers patents and scholarly works in science and technology. You can include or exclude countries and regions, and see how the documents have been cited in other people’s research.

Other ideas

Social media

Follow academic discussions on platforms like BlueSky or LinkedIn, and participate in conferences with a focus on Global South research. These often highlight new publications and sources.

Use audio visual sources

Looking for alternative formats of information can be a good way of including a wider range of voices in your reading list. Consider using the library's subscription to Box of Broadcasts, or consulting TED Talks as a starting point.

Resources by other universities

You are not the only person looking for ways to diversify their content! Lots of other universities are doing this too, so searching online for your subject area followed by the word 'decolonisation' may bring up some helpful resources.