Infoteka offers a growing selection of e-books on hundreds of topics from premier scholarly publishers in Russia, Belarus, and Central Asia. Choose from among classics, modern literature, popular fiction, scholarly titles, and more, as single titles or publisher sets.
Infoteka’s intuitive e-book platform allows users to search within individual works, whole collections, and cross-search between e-book collections and your other online Infoteka resources. E-books may be supplied through an approval plan program or as firm orders
English-language journals on a wide range of topics.
Our collection includes three English-language journals: Far Eastern Affairs, International Affairs, and Social Sciences.
The collection focuses on the geographic region of China, Russia and the former Soviet Union. Topics covered in the collection include domestic politics, international relations, foreign policy, economics, business and commerce, public health, the environment, social sciences, and more. Infoteka Publications puts a wealth of information about these dynamic regions at your fingertips, and all conveniently in English. The collection includes partial archives of each title at no extra charge provided a current subscription is maintained.
See below for details about each publication.
Product Code: UDB-IFP
Archive: 1998–present
Language: English
Country: United States
Frequency: Varies
Updates: Continuous
Format: Full text; newer issues are full text and full image (article-based PDF)
Quarterly | archive depth 2000-current | full text; newer issues are full text and full image (article-based PDF)
A quarterly journal of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. This peer-reviewed journal provides in-depth multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary discussion of Russia’s relations with China, Japan, North and South Korea, as well as other countries of the Asia-Pacific region. Russia’s relations with this region, and with China in particular, are key to understanding the shifting balance of power in today’s world. Far Eastern Affairs is an excellent resource for gaining insight into this region and Russia’s role in it.
Bimonthly | archive depth 2000-current | full text; newer issues are full text and full image (article-based PDF)
Offering unique, first-hand analysis of major foreign policy and security issues facing Russia and other former Soviet republics, this internationally renowned journal is the English translation of the Russian-language journal Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn, which is published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The editorial board of this journal is traditionally headed by the minister himself, while the journal’s contributors are primarily experienced, high-ranking diplomats. As such, International Affairs is an excellent primary source for anyone interested in the course of Russian policy in foreign affairs.
Quarterly | archive depth 1998-current | full text; newer issues are full text and full image (article-based PDF)
Founded in 1970, Social Sciences has become an important and a unique platform for prominent papers and studies selected from various institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This peer-reviewed journal cover the most pressing issues of Russia’s social and economic development, featuring articles on philosophy, history, economics, politics, sociology, law, philology, psychology, ethnography, archaeology, literature, culture, and more.
The Early Soviet Cinema Collection. Part Two features 81 Russian and Soviet e-books on cinema and film studies, a complement to the previous 119-title Early Soviet Cinema Collection. Part One. Offered as a separate database rather than as a merged expansion, Part Two is designed both for libraries that already acquired Part One and for institutions seeking a deeper, more specialized collection on the history, theory, practice, and ideological function of Soviet cinema. The collection is delivered in full-image PDF format with searchable text, preserving the appearance of the original publications while supporting modern discovery and research.
The collection covers publications issued between 1908 and 1956, with particular strength in the formative decades of Soviet film culture. It includes works by and about leading figures in Soviet cinema, film theory, directing, acting, screenwriting, criticism, and production, including Lev Kuleshov, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mikhail Romm, Vladimir Nielsen, Isaac Babel, Ilya Trauberg, Nikolai Anoshchenko, Veniamin Vishnevsky, and others. Among the included titles are works on film directing, montage, screen acting, visual composition, sound cinema, cinema architecture, film scripts, the history of cinematography, and annual surveys of Soviet film production.
Beyond film technique and aesthetics, the collection is especially valuable for the study of cinema as a Soviet cultural institution. The books address the political, educational, and ideological uses of film, including cinema and communist education, children and cinema, documentary and technical films, foreign film criticism, atheist documentaries, the representation of women, the role of film in public instruction, and the relationship between cinema, literature, theater, and state cultural policy. As a result, the collection will support not only film studies, but also research in Soviet history, Slavic studies, visual culture, media studies, cultural policy, propaganda, gender studies, education, and the history of technology.
Product Code: EB-ESC2
Number of Titles: 81
Years of Publication: 1908–1956
Language: Russian; some titles in old Russian orthography
Collection of rare film and theater magazines from critical period in Russian and Soviet history.
Russian Film and Theater Periodicals Digital Archive is a curated digital collection of 11 rare Russian and Soviet film and theater magazines published between 1911 and 1935, covering the final years of the Russian Empire and the formative decades of Soviet cultural life. The archive brings together influential and often short-lived periodicals such as Vestnik kinematografii, Ekran i rampa, Teatr i kino, Kino-Fot, Kino-zhurnal A.R.K., Sovetskoe kino, and Proletarskoe kino, among others. Together, these titles document the emergence of cinema in Russia as a new artistic medium, commercial industry, technological system, and later as a central instrument of Soviet cultural policy and ideological education.
The collection is especially valuable because it preserves the close relationship between film, theater, journalism, visual culture, and politics during a period of dramatic historical transformation. Pre-revolutionary titles capture the world of urban entertainment culture, theater repertories, film exhibition, advertising, audience formation, and the rapid growth of cinema before 1917. Soviet-era journals trace the rise of montage theory, Constructivist aesthetics, studio organization, documentary and newsreel production, proletarian cultural policy, and the increasingly institutionalized role of cinema in Soviet society.
Richly illustrated and textually diverse, the archive includes articles, reviews, editorials, theoretical essays, production notes, repertory programs, advertisements, caricatures, film stills, photographs, and examples of avant-garde graphic design. It provides essential primary-source material for scholars and students in Slavic Studies, Russian and Soviet history, film and media studies, theater studies, art history, and Soviet visual culture. Russian Film and Theater Periodicals Digital Archive brings together rare, scattered and difficult to access periodicals into a single, searchable archive, making a crucial body of early Russian and Soviet film and theater journalism accessible for teaching, research, and collection development.
Product Code: DA-FTA
Number of Titles: 11
Archive: 1911–1935
Language: Russian; some titles in old Russian orthography
Country: Russia
Cities: Moscow, Kazan, Odessa
Frequency: Varies
Format: Full text and full image (PDF, article-based)
One of the most significant illustrated literary and cultural journals of the early Soviet period.
Published in Moscow from 1923 to 1931 as a supplement to Izvestiia, Krasnaia Niva (Красная Нива, The Red Field) was conceived as a Soviet successor to the famous pre-revolutionary illustrated weekly Niva. Like its predecessor, it was designed for a broad reading public and combined literature, poetry, essays, popular science, cultural commentary, criticism, biography, current affairs, and abundant visual material.
Appearing during the formative decade between the end of the Civil War and the consolidation of Stalinist cultural policy, Krasnaia Niva offers an unusually rich record of Soviet intellectual and artistic life before the full standardization of Socialist Realism and the later mechanisms of cultural control. Its pages preserve the pluralism, contradictions, and experimentation of the 1920s: revolutionary rhetoric coexists with literary variety, popular education, internationalism, peasant themes, technological enthusiasm, satire, and visual modernism.
Krasnaia Niva published fiction and poetry by major and now-canonical writers, including Aleksandr Grin, Boris Pilniak, Mikhail Prishvin, Andrei Platonov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Esenin, and others. It also featured translated literature by such international authors as Henri Barbusse, Romain Rolland, and O. Henry, reflecting the early Soviet effort to situate Russian readers within a global literary and political culture. Because some of its contributors later became politically suspect, marginalized, censored, or retrospectively rewritten out of Soviet literary history, the archive is especially valuable for reconstructing the cultural openness and instability of the 1920s.
As an illustrated magazine, Krasnaia Niva is also an important source for the study of Soviet visual culture. Its pages feature reproductions of artworks, drawings, caricatures, decorative layouts, and striking cover designs that trace the changing graphic language of the early Soviet period—from post-revolutionary illustration and political satire to photomontage, Constructivist design, and the increasingly monumental imagery of socialist construction.
The journal’s visual significance is underscored by the fact that MoMA in New York holds Krasnaia Niva, no. 45, 1929, designed by Valentina Kulagina, as a letterpress-printed journal with a lithographed cover, associated with the Merrill C. Berman Collection of modern graphic material.
Krasnaia Niva, no. 45, 1929
The Krasnaia Niva Digital Archive is particularly valuable for scholars and students working in Slavic studies, Soviet history, Russian literature, art history, visual culture, media studies, book history, comparative literature, translation studies, and the history of popular science. It supports research into the New Economic Policy period, Soviet readership and mass culture, the transformation of the illustrated press, debates over “fellow travelers” and proletarian literature, representations of peasants and workers, the emergence of the “new Soviet everyday life,” and the gradual narrowing of cultural expression under ideological pressure.
The Krasnaia Niva Digital Archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title. It includes fully searchable scans of every issue, preserving the visual and textual richness of the original print editions, and is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources. By making the full run searchable and accessible in digital form, the archive allows researchers to move beyond isolated famous texts or individual issues and instead trace themes, authors, images, genres, and ideological vocabulary across nearly a decade of Soviet cultural development. It is an essential primary-source archive for understanding how early Soviet culture was presented to a mass readership.
Founded in Moscow in 1955 at the initiative of writer Valentin Kataev, Iunost’ (Юность, Youth) was one of the most influential Soviet and later Russian illustrated literary journals addressed to younger readers, as well as one of the esteemed Soviet/Russian “thick journals.” During the cultural “Thaw,” Iunost’ emerged as an important venue for new literary voices and for writing that departed from established conventions of socialist realism. Its pages introduced readers to a remarkable generation of authors, including Vasily Aksenov, Anatoly Gladilin, Bella Akhmadulina, Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Bulat Okudzhava, Fazil Iskander, Boris Vasilyev, Vladimir Voinovich, and many others.
The Iunost’ Digital Archive provides scholars with a rich primary-source record of Soviet and post-Soviet literary culture, youth identity, intellectual life, and changing boundaries of permissible expression. Beyond fiction and poetry, the journal engaged with contemporary society through writing on science and technology, sports, popular culture, art, and public debate. Its illustrated format, color art inserts, humor sections, and discussion forums make it a valuable resource not only for literary studies, but also for research in Soviet cultural history, media studies, visual culture, youth studies, censorship, and the history of everyday life.
For academic libraries, the Iunost’ Digital Archive offers access to a publication that helped shape the literary and cultural experience of multiple generations. The archive enables researchers and students to trace the emergence of major authors, examine literary experimentation during the Thaw and later Soviet decades, study the interaction between cultural liberalization and political constraint, and follow the journal’s continued evolution after 1991 as an independent Russian literary publication. As a sustained record of literary discovery, cultural change, and youth-oriented public discourse, the archive is an essential addition to collections supporting Slavic studies, Russian literature, Soviet history, and modern European cultural research.
The Iunost’ Digital Archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, with an additional year’s worth of content available for purchase on an annual basis. It includes fully searchable scans of every issue, preserving the visual and textual richness of the original print editions, and is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
The famed Soviet tolstye zhurnaly, or “thick journals,” were significant platforms for literary and intellectual discourse. Tolstye zhurnaly such as Iunost’ played a complex and multifaceted role in Soviet intellectual and literary life. They were not merely publications but institutions that shaped and were shaped by the cultural, intellectual, and political currents of their time. These journals served multiple roles:
They acted as repositories of high culture, preserving the intellectual and literary achievements of the era. Given the limited avenues for independent publishing, these journals were the primary platforms where established and emerging writers could reach an audience.
State-Controlled Outlets. While they were crucial platforms for intellectual and artistic expression, it’s important to remember that these journals were often used to propagate official ideologies, and the works published in them usually underwent rigorous censorship.
Academic Importance. For academics studying the Soviet period, tolstye zhurnaly offer a valuable glimpse into the state-sanctioned intellectual climate of the time. They provide context for how literature and intellectual thought evolved under different political and social conditions.
Catalysts for Change. During more liberal periods, such as the Khrushchev Thaw and the perestroika years, tolstye zhurnaly could act as catalysts for change, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable to discuss and publish.
Official journal of the Young Communist League, tasked with shaping Soviet youth.
Founded in Moscow in 1922 as the official monthly organ of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, Molodaia Gvardiia (Молодая гвардия, Young Guard) was established to shape Soviet youth through a powerful fusion of literature, ideology, and political commentary. One of the esteemed Soviet/Russian “thick journals,” Molodaia Gvardiia has published continuously since 1922 except during the war years (1942–1947), when it was suspended and later issued as a literary almanac. The journal resumed regular publication in 1956 and has retained its monthly frequency ever since.
From its early years, Molodaia Gvardiia served as a cultural training ground for aspiring Soviet writers and political thinkers, with early works by figures like Osip Mandelstam and Mikhail Sholokhov. Over the decades, it played a central role in shaping what would later be known as Russophile discourse, particularly during and after the Khrushchev Thaw.
In the post-war decades, the journal came to be associated with a nationalist and traditionalist line. During the Gorbachev years, Molodaia Gvardiia was among the few Soviet journals that openly resisted perestroika, becoming a voice for those opposed to liberalization. Though its audience has diminished in the post-Soviet period, Molodaia Gvardiia remains a living institution of Russian conservative thought and literary life. Since 2009, it has been edited by Valerii Khatushin and continues to be published monthly in Moscow.
The Molodaia Gvardiia Digital Archive provides researchers, students, and historians with a unique window into Soviet and post-Soviet cultural and ideological dynamics, spanning a century of literary evolution, political debate, and generational change. Users can trace the journal’s transformation over time: from its foundational role in Soviet youth mobilization and its post-war embrace of conservative, Russophile thought, to its defiant stance during the Gorbachev era and continued relevance in contemporary Russian discourse.
This comprehensive resource includes fully searchable scans of every issue, preserving the visual and textual richness of the original print editions. The archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, with an additional year’s worth of content available for purchase on an annual basis. The archive is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
The famed Soviet tolstye zhurnaly, or “thick journals,” were significant platforms for literary and intellectual discourse. Tolstye zhurnaly such as Molodaia Gvardiia played a complex and multifaceted role in Soviet intellectual and literary life. They were not merely publications but institutions that shaped and were shaped by the cultural, intellectual, and political currents of their time. These journals served multiple roles:
They acted as repositories of high culture, preserving the intellectual and literary achievements of the era. Given the limited avenues for independent publishing, these journals were the primary platforms where established and emerging writers could reach an audience.
State-Controlled Outlets. While they were crucial platforms for intellectual and artistic expression, it’s important to remember that these journals were often used to propagate official ideologies, and the works published in them usually underwent rigorous censorship.
Academic Importance. For academics studying the Soviet period, tolstye zhurnaly offer a valuable glimpse into the state-sanctioned intellectual climate of the time. They provide context for how literature and intellectual thought evolved under different political and social conditions.
Catalysts for Change. During more liberal periods, such as the Khrushchev Thaw and the perestroika years, tolstye zhurnaly could act as catalysts for change, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable to discuss and publish.
Key resource of Russian intellectual and literary circles for over a century.
Founded in 1924 in Petrograd (later Leningrad, now St. Petersburg), Zvezda(Звезда, The Star) is Russia’s oldest monthly “thick journal,” a group of publications that played a crucial role in shaping Soviet intellectual and literary discourse. Initially released six times a year, it became a monthly publication in 1927 and has been a key resource of Russian intellectual and literary circles for a century.
The journal’s longevity and resilience through tumultuous periods of Soviet history, including the Siege of Leningrad and Stalinist repression, make it an essential resource for understanding the complexities of Russian cultural development over the past century. Notably, Zvezda faced severe criticism in August 1946 from the Soviet Communist Party in the infamous resolution “On the Journals ‘Zvezda’ and ‘Leningrad’,” where it was accused of publishing “ideologically harmful works,” particularly those by Mikhail Zoshchenko and Anna Akhmatova. During the era of perestroika, Zvezda began publishing previously prohibited works and articles by authors such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Brodsky, Andrei Sakharov, Yuri Lotman and many others.
The Zvezda Digital Archive provides a panoramic view of Russian intellectual life across the 20th and 21st centuries, and the journal’s survival through periods of intense censorship and its role in pushing boundaries during more liberal times make it an essential resource for understanding the nuanced tapestry of Russian culture, literature, and thought.
This extensive coverage provides researchers with access to:
Literary works by established and emerging Russian writers
Critical essays and reviews on literature, art, and culture
Discussions of social and political issues within the constraints of the era
Previously prohibited works published during the perestroika period
Evolving perspectives on Russian identity and cultural heritage
The Zvezda Digital Archive offers a comprehensive collection spanning over 100 years, with an additional year’s worth of content available for purchase on an annual basis. The archive includes more than 25,000 works by over 10,000 authors, encompassing nearly 1,200 issues, over 23,000 articles, and over 280,000 pages. If converted to print, the archive for this title would occupy 49 feet of library shelf space. Thearchive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, and features full page-level digitization and complete original graphics. The archive has searchable text and is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
Note: In 1992 only 10 issues of Zvezda were published. This is not a gap in archive content but reflects the journal’s publication schedule that year.
The famed Soviet tolstye zhurnaly, or “thick journals,” were significant platforms for literary and intellectual discourse. Tolstye zhurnaly such as Zvezda played a complex and multifaceted role in Soviet intellectual and literary life. They were not merely publications but institutions that shaped and were shaped by the cultural, intellectual, and political currents of their time. These journals served multiple roles:
They acted as repositories of high culture, preserving the intellectual and literary achievements of the era. Given the limited avenues for independent publishing, these journals were the primary platforms where established and emerging writers could reach an audience.
State-Controlled Outlets. While they were crucial platforms for intellectual and artistic expression, it’s important to remember that these journals were often used to propagate official ideologies, and the works published in them usually underwent rigorous censorship.
Academic Importance. For academics studying the Soviet period, tolstye zhurnaly offer a valuable glimpse into the state-sanctioned intellectual climate of the time. They provide context for how literature and intellectual thought evolved under different political and social conditions.
Catalysts for Change. During more liberal periods, such as the Khrushchev Thaw and the perestroika years, tolstye zhurnaly could act as catalysts for change, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable to discuss and publish.
Prominent literary journal in publication since 1931.
Znamia (Знамя, Banner), an esteemed Soviet/Russian “thick journal,” is a lively platform for literature, critical analysis, philosophy, and at times, political commentary. Originally launched in January 1931 under the name LOKAF (Локаф), an acronym for the Literary Association of the Red Army and Navy, the journal was officially rebranded as Znamia in 1933. Throughout its history, Znamia has been a pivotal venue for showcasing the works of preeminent authors such as Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Tvardovsky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Konstantin Paustovsky, Yuri Kazakov, and Yuri Trifonov. During the perestroika era, Znamia underwent a significant transformation, evolving into one of Russia’s most widely read literary journals and serving as a herald of the perestroika movement.
The Znamia Digital Archive contains all obtainable published issues from 1931 on, with an additional year’s worth of content available for purchase on an annual basis. Spanning over nine decades, it contains over 25,000 articles, or around 260,000 pages. If converted to print, the archive for this title would occupy 41 feet of library shelf space. The archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, and features full article-level digitization, complete original graphics, and searchable text, and is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
The famed Soviet tolstye zhurnaly, or “thick journals,” were significant platforms for literary and intellectual discourse. Tolstye zhurnaly such as Znamia played a complex and multifaceted role in Soviet intellectual and literary life. They were not merely publications but institutions that shaped and were shaped by the cultural, intellectual, and political currents of their time. These journals served multiple roles:
They acted as repositories of high culture, preserving the intellectual and literary achievements of the era. Given the limited avenues for independent publishing, these journals were the primary platforms where established and emerging writers could reach an audience.
State-Controlled Outlets. While they were crucial platforms for intellectual and artistic expression, it’s important to remember that these journals were often used to propagate official ideologies, and the works published in them usually underwent rigorous censorship.
Academic Importance. For academics studying the Soviet period, tolstye zhurnaly offer a valuable glimpse into the state-sanctioned intellectual climate of the time. They provide context for how literature and intellectual thought evolved under different political and social conditions.
Catalysts for Change. During more liberal periods, such as the Khrushchev Thaw and the perestroika years, tolstye zhurnaly could act as catalysts for change, pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable to discuss and publish.
Influential Russian journal of literary criticism and literary studies.
Since its inception in 1957, Voprosy Literatury (Вопросы литературы, Issues of Literature) has stood as one of the most prestigious and authoritative academic journals in the fields of philology and literary criticism in the Russian language. Founded soon after the 20th Congress of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the era known as the “thaw” in USSR cultural life, it soon evolved into a major discussion platform for literary critics and scholars on the history of world and Russian literature, the theory of literature, and current literary and cultural issues in the country.
Recent years have seen the journal engage in rigorous debates about the future of philological science and, more broadly, the state of the humanities, attracting significant attention within Russia. Among the major themes explored by the journal are: methods and techniques in modern philological science, comparative study of cultures and the history of classical and contemporary Russian literature.
Voprosy Literatury boasts an illustrious list of past and present contributors, including leading Russian and international scholars such as M.M. Bakhtin, V.B. Shklovsky, D.S. Likhachev, L.E. Pinsky, S.S. Averintsev, Caryl Emerson, and J.S. Smith, among others. It is also known for publishing selections from Russian writers prohibited during the Soviet period.
The journal is included in the official Russian list of peer-reviewed publications where the main scientific results of dissertations must be published. It is also indexed in the Scopus database, making it a widely acknowledged and cited publication in academic circles.
The Voprosy Literatury Digital Archive serves as an indispensable resource for scholarly research in the fields of philology and literary criticism. With access to decades of seminal articles, debates, and academic discussions, this comprehensive archive represents a cornerstone in the landscape of humanities scholarship.
The archive contains the most complete set of the journal, comprising more than 16,000 articles, with an additional year’s worth of content available for purchase on an annual basis. It features searchable full-text articles with PDF format available starting in 2018. All content in the Voprosy Literatury Digital Archive is cross-searchable with numerous other Infoteka digital resources.
Product Code: DA-VL
Year First Published: 1957
Archive: 1957–2025
Language: Russian
Country: Russia
City: Moscow
Frequency: Monthly
Format: Full text; article-based PDFs starting in 2018
