Subject Guides: Terrorism: Academic Sources beyond Library Search Box & Google Scholar

Find reports, data, primary sources, statistics, documents and journal articles on Terrorism

Assessing Revolutionary and Insurgent Strategies (ARIS) project consists of research conducted for the US Army Special Operations Command by the National Security Analysis Department of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Its goal is to produce academically rigorous yet operationally relevant research to develop and illustrate a common understanding of insurgency and revolution. Intended to form a bedrock body of knowledge for members of the Special Operations Forces, the ARIS studies allow users to distill vast amounts of material from a wide array of campaigns and extract relevant lessons, enabling the development of future doctrine, professional education, and training. The ARIS project follows in the tradition of research conducted by the Special Operations Research Office (SORO) of American University in the 1950s and 1960s, adding new research to that body of work, republishing original SORO studies, and releasing updated editions of selected SORO studies.

CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
Full text of working papers and articles from think tanks, NGOs and universities.
Digital National Security Archive
From the nongovernmental National Security Archive, this resource consists declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present. Each collection features chronologies, glossaries, bibliographies, and scholarly overviews. Within the Digital National Security Archive is the Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968–2002 database. The principal focus of this collection is international terrorism, beginning with the July 1968 hijacking of an El Al jet to Algiers, other incidents, and the 9/11 attack and aftermath. Beyond the immediacy of these descriptive documents, the materials in this collection also give a uniquely detailed portrait of the enormous counter-terrorism planning and decision-making apparatus that has grown over the years within the U.S. government.

Global Terrorism Database (Univ. of Maryland)
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2020
Government Data
Search by subject for government-produced downloadable data. Example: National Transportation Safety Board "Air Carrier Occurrences Involving Illegal Acts (Sabotage, Suicide, or Terrorism), 1995 through 2014"
Government & Military Documents by Subject
To limit a Google search to just government or military websites, in the search box type Site:.gov then type your subject terms. For military websites type Site:.mil then your search terms. https://www.usa.gov/ is a search engine that crawls the web retrieving websites with .gov & .mil file extensions. The Google site:.gov or Site:.mil is a more robust search engine.
Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL)
Documents relating to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management. The HSDL is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Preparedness Directorate, FEMA and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
ITERATE: International Terrorism Attributes of Terrorist Events: Downloadable Data
Consists of Microsoft Excel files (base and supplemental annual files), plus a codebook and group list in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect formats
"The ITERATE project is an attempt to quantify data on the characteristics of transnational terrorist groups, their activities which have international impact, and the environment in which they operate." ITERATE files are stored in AURA, American University's Research Archive. AU credentials required.
System requirements: Computer with Excel, Microsoft Word and/or Word Perfect.

Janes
Defense and security news, intelligence, and analysis. Our subscription includes modules in the following areas:
Country Intelligence
Defence Budgets
Defence Equipment & Technology
Military Capabilities
Terrorism & Insurgency

Our subscription also includes Janes IntelTrak and the Janes Tradecraft online courses.

Direct links to Janes modules:
Defence Equipment & Technology
Defence Budgets
Military Capabilities
Terrorism & Insurgency
Defence Programmes
Access to Janes IntelTrak and the Janes Tradecraft online courses requires a separate login. Please reach out to Janes by email to request an account.
Political Extremism and Radicalism
An archive of far-right and far-left movements in the United States, Europe and Australia.

Jihadology: A clearinghouse for jihādī primary source material, original analysis, and translation service
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Jihadology is a personal project of Aaron Y. Zelin and is not associated with The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
RAND Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents (RDWTI)
RDWTI is a free compilation of over 40,000 international and domestic terrorism incidents covering the years 1968 through 2009. Incidents of terrorism are coded and detailed. RAND staff conducted extensive research on candidate terrorist attacks, drawing on staff with regional expertise, relevant language skills, and in-country field work experience. The RDWTI is a fully searchable and interactive database, with the intention of providing quality and comprehensive data to users.

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The database is free and publicly accessible for research and analysis.Use of the data must be attributed to the RAND. RDWTI continues Database of Worldwide Terrorism Incidents. RAND Terrorism Chronology and the RAND-MIPT Terrorism Incident Database.

RAND Reports
Over 17,000 books, reports, working papers and other publications dating back to 1948 by the think tank, Rand Corporation. Search for new RAND reports: http://www.rand.org/pubs/online/terrorism-and-homeland-security.html
SITE Intelligence Group Jihadist Threat

AU Library lost access to this resource on 6/30/2025.
SITE monitors the internet for jihadi news, providing translations in English.
Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC)
Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC) is a uniquely comprehensive resource for the study of political violence of all kinds. In cooperation with a team of 2800 experts, TRAC gathers the best information for exploration of this topic by faculty, scholars, students, government and defense professionals, as well as the general public.

Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968–2002 database is part of the Digital National Security Archive of declassified government documents covering U.S. policy toward critical world events – including military, intelligence, diplomatic and human rights dimensions – from 1945 to the present. Each collection is assembled by foreign policy experts and features chronologies, glossaries, bibliographies, and scholarly overviews. Within the Digital National Security Archive is the database, Terrorism and U.S. Policy, 1968–2002. The principal focus of this collection is international terrorism, beginning with the July 1968 hijacking of an El Al jet to Algiers, other incidents, and the 9/11 attack and aftermath. Beyond the immediacy of these descriptive documents, the materials in this collection also give a uniquely detailed portrait of the enormous counter-terrorism planning and decision-making apparatus that has grown over the years within the U.S. government.