Introducing Factiva: our new news database

Everyone needs access to timely and reliable sources of news.

The University of Essex’s Library Services holds subscriptions to news databases to make news sources available to students and academics to support their research.

Hot off the press, Academic Liaison Librarian, Sandy Macmillen, takes a look at Factiva from Dow Jones, a news database which will soon be available for Essex users.

What is a news database?

An important responsibility of our Library Services is to ensure that our users have access to reputable news publications from around the world, including leading titles such as “newspapers of record” that are considered authoritative sources of reporting. 

For many years our primary news database for this purpose has been Nexis (not to be confused with the legal database, Lexis!), but from 1 July, we will have access to a new news database - Factiva.

We find that students using reputable news databases, like Nexis or Factiva, for research and as reference material tend to produce a higher quality of work: students and academics can use these resources to find up to date, real world news reports, case studies and analysis that supplement the information from academic sources. 

Some also use news databases as primary sources when researching dissertations and projects, whether for current or historical topics. This involves more detailed searching, extracting the relevant news content and analysing it through quantitative or qualitative methods.

From Nexis to Factiva

Our Essex-wide subscription to Nexis expires on 31 July, as we switch to Factiva. 

Factiva offers good value whilst providing access to essentially the same content as Nexis, which will hopefully be a relief to our dedicated Nexis users!

To allow for a window of overlap between the two databases Factiva access is already enabled for Essex users. 

You can continue to access Nexis for free via your Essex login until 31 July, from then on, please ensue you update your news database bookmarks to Factiva.

What is Factiva and how do I access it?

Factiva may already be familiar to you as it is widely used by many universities around the world. 

It is a product from Dow Jones, the US firm that publishes the Wall Street Journal (equivalent of the Financial Times in the UK), whose core activity is providing news and financial information to businesses, universities, and other organisations. 

Factiva is available to all Essex students and staff both on and off campus, through Single Sign On (SSO) authentication - the same way that you would access Nexis and other database subscriptions which are managed by Library Services. 

How to find Factiva from the Library Services website:

• Via Library Search. 
• Via the Databases and eResources menu, or from selected Subject Guides.

Once you have logged in to Factiva, you can bookmark the link in your browser.

How does Factiva compare to Nexis?

For dedicated user of Nexis, you may be wondering how Factiva compares to the news database you were previously using: please be assured that there is a high degree of overlap in the news sources included in Nexis and Factiva.

Both provide the full text of leading national and international newspapers such as The New York Times, The Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, etc.

Factiva has a very good level of international coverage, including major titles from the Global South such as The Times of India.

It also contains important foreign-language titles from around the world, such as El País (Madrid), Yomiuri Shimbun, Die Welt, and more.

Factiva also includes:

• articles from web versions of newspapers
• regional and local newspapers
• leading newswires (AFP, Reuters, Dow Jones)
• magazines and trade publications (e.g., Forbes, Newsweek, etc.)
• tv and radio podcasts (e.g., BBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.)

In addition, Factiva provides access to BBC Monitoring reports, which translate into English important news stories from newspaper and broadcasting outlets in foreign countries, particularly from politically sensitive areas of the world.

Factiva provides access to a number of leading titles that are unavailable from Nexis, including the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Back issues of some major titles extend to the 1980s, permitting research on some historical topics and events as well as current affairs.

Like Nexis, Factiva simply extracts the text of articles from news sources. It does not replicate the format or layout of a print newspaper, nor does it include illustrations or adverts. Its primary purpose is the presentation of articles from news sources as selected by the user.

How easy to use is Factiva?

Feedback from a recent trial indicated that users found Factiva to be an intuitive product.

The search facility works similarly to Nexis, and searches the same fields: headline, lead paragraph; full article; byline; author. Filters can be applied to search results to limit results to the most relevant articles, which can then be saved.

Up to 100 articles at a time can be downloaded from Factiva (the same as Nexis).

Help and support on using Factiva can be found on the ProQuest website, including: how to videos, search tips and search building guidance.

Additional training and support in using Factiva will be offered to Essex students and staff in the Autumn term.

What do I need to do?

For the vast majority of Essex staff and students - nothing!

However, academic staff or postgraduate students who are currently working on active research projects that utilise Nexis may need to consider exploring Factiva prior to the Nexis subscription end on 31 July.

Contact our Academic Liaison Librarians if you have any questions regarding the switch to Factiva.

We really appreciate your feedback, please do share your experiences of using Factiva with us.

Other news databases

Library Services at Essex subscribe to a range of databases that offer access to both current and historical news content.

Details of these resources are available from the Library Services Databases and eResources webpage.