ProQuest Central
ProQuest Central: Broad institutional access to scholarly, professional, and research content. Ranked #2 of 35 in Academic Research Databases by our editors (9.3/10); pricing: Pricing on request; best for comprehensive institutional research access.
At a glance
- Editor score9.3 / 10
- PricingPricing on request
- Best forComprehensive institutional research access
- Full-text accessYes
- Facts checked20 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Full-text coverage across multidisciplinary scholarly journals
- Includes dissertations, reports, newspapers, and conference papers
- AI-assisted research with ProQuest Research Assistant
Where it doesn't
- Pricing follows a contact-sales model
- Web access only
- Designed for institutional rather than open access
Our verdict on ProQuest Central
ProQuest Central is a multidisciplinary academic research database for students, faculty, researchers, and libraries. It brings together full-text scholarly journals with dissertations, working papers, conference papers, case studies, market reports, country and industry reports, newspapers, magazines, and trade and professional publications. Coverage spans business, health and medicine, social sciences, arts and humanities, education, science and technology, and religion, making it suited to institutions supporting varied research needs.
Its main strength is breadth paired with structured discovery. Precision search helps users navigate different content types within one ProQuest platform, while ProQuest Research Assistant adds AI-assisted research to the database experience. The collection also connects with Ebook Central and Academic Video Online, giving institutions a broader Clarivate ecosystem around books and academic video. This combination should appeal to libraries that want one research environment covering both scholarly literature and practical or contextual materials such as newspapers, magazines, market reports, and working papers.
Pricing follows a contact-sales model, so ProQuest Central is positioned for institutional procurement rather than individual, open-access use. Access is web-based, and the product is not open source. Institutions choosing it should be prepared to evaluate an academic database subscription around their existing library access model and research priorities. It is a strong fit for universities and academic libraries that value multidisciplinary full-text coverage and varied research formats; researchers seeking a standalone personal database or an open-source option should consider a different approach.
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ProQuest Central pricing
ProQuest Central fact sheet
| Free plan | Not verified |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Not verified |
| Full-text access | Yes |
| Advanced search | Yes |
| Subject coverage | Multidisciplinary |
| Content types | scholarly journals; trade and professional titles; newspapers; magazines; dissertations; working papers; case studies; market reports; conference papers |
| Theses and dissertations | Yes |
| Conference proceedings | Yes |
| Institutional access | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud |
| Platforms | Web |
| Support | Docs |
| Built for | Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 2 integrations: Ebook Central, Academic Video Online |
| Pricing | Pricing on request |
| Website | about.proquest.com |
| Facts checked | 20 Sep 2026 |
ProQuest Central integrations
ProQuest Central lists 2 integrations on its own site.
- Ebook Central
- Academic Video Online
Alternatives to ProQuest Central
- Web of ScienceA broad citation index for institutions that need structured scholarly discovery and tracking.9.4
- OpenAlexA strong open-data foundation for multidisciplinary scholarly discovery and analysis.9.2
- JSTORA broad, full-text academic collection with flexible personal and institutional access.9.1
See all ProQuest Central alternatives →
ProQuest Central vs the competition
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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