Open international information sources
In this section you can find information about various international search services for open-access materials.
OpenAIRE is a
European open-access infrastructure that aggregates content—such as
publications and datasets—from services that have registered to be included.
The portal guides researchers in finding publications or datasets that suit
their needs. It also includes some Finnish content.
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is a search service developed at Bielefeld University. It harvests data from publication repositories and other information sources worldwide. In the example images below, a search for "stage fright" was conducted in BASE using the "Entire document" option, meaning the search targeted full texts. This resulted in 948 references (top image). A second search using the "subject" field yielded 178 references.
BASE searches can be "boosted" by checking the "Boost open access documents" option. This prioritizes openly available materials in the search results.
CORE (Connecting Repositories) is a search service that aggregates open-access materials from various sources. Any open repository or journal can join as a member, and their content is then included in the database. All CORE materials are openly and immediately accessible. CORE also includes content harvested from Finnish publication repositories. In the adjacent image, a search for "stage fright" in CORE returned 6,374 references.
EBSCO OPEN DISSERTATIONS aims to make theses and dissertations as widely accessible and citable as possible. The service offers 1.5 million works from 320 institutions around the world.
A test search for "music performance anxiety" returned 115 results, while a broader search for "music" yielded over 27,000. The service appears to be very up-to-date, with the most recent results including theses published in 2026.
