If you have reason to consult Russian periodicals in your research you will find that they are extremely well covered in the literature. However, the bibliographic sources covering them are extensive and varied. Therefore, finding record of the publication of a particular title requires a familiarity with a variety of sources.
First, there are guides to periodicals. These are like other handbooks. There are some that are general sources on all periodicals. There are also specialized sources for specific subject areas. In the latter, there will be sections on periodicals with lists of titles important to the subject area.
Because these guides have not been updated in recent years, you will also find general bibliographies of periodicals important. In general, this discussion will be limited to those sources that cover all periodicals. Again, those that are limited to a specific subject area will be included in the “Handbooks” section and in the sections devoted to individual subjects.
Another type of source that is invaluable, but often overlooked, is the guide to periodical indexes. These take several forms, from a list or bibliography of all the indexes published for individual periodicals, to sources containing the contents of all periodicals for a specific period. Into this latter category fall such publications as Letopis’ gazetnykh statei and Letopis’ zhurnal’nykh statei. Some of the bibliographic resources available online like the INION database can also function like a generalized bibliography or periodical titles and their contents for the social sciences. The advantages and limitations of both the printed sources and the online versions will be discussed in the descriptions of the resources.
Online resources include the larger union catalogs such as OCLC. Other resources will help you locate periodicals in Russian libraries (http://book.uraic.ru/internet/guide/mags.htm).
Some of these are very rich resources providing all kinds of information that is of interest to the scholar. It will be useful for you to pay close attention to the internal organization of these guides, as they frequently contain indexes of related information that can provide additional sources of information, such as foreign views on Russia, publishing statistics, etc.
