The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (http://www.iasfm.org) defines forced migration as “a general term that refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (people displaced by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.” Research in the field of forced migration studies can prove challenging for several reasons. First, it is multidisciplinary; therefore, the range of potentially relevant resources that might be consulted by a researcher is quite broad, and encompasses most of the social sciences as well as law and medicine. Second, it is marked by certain internal divisions, wherein different forced migrants are studied almost exclusively by different disciplines (see e.g., Cernea, Michael, “Bridging the Research Divide: Studying Refugees and Development Oustees,” 1996). Finally, refugees have been a predominant focus of study for a longer period of time than other forced migrants, and for this reason, it is often more difficult to find information on other groups.

Forced Migration Online (FMO) was developed to support and facilitate the research and information-seeking process in this field, and to help overcome some of the research challenges identified above. This guide highlights some of the key forced migration resources that are either in FMO or that can be accessed via FMO. Please note the list is not comprehensive; at the same time, 185 resources are featured. Emphasis was placed on selecting resources that cover key forced migration issues generally. The resources are organized by type, rather than by forced migrant or by displacement cause, in order to avoid overlap and to de-emphasize divisions within the field. In several sections, a "see also" is included to refer users to resources with broader disciplinary coverage that are still relevant.

What exactly constitutes a resource? Rather than simply note relevant web sites and provide a description of the elements available within each, this guide links to (1) glossaries, country profiles, research collections, directories, indexes, bibliographies, library catalogues, discussion lists, news sources, journals, yearbooks, international instruments, policies, operational materials, evaluation reports, statistics, multimedia resources, web subject guides, and search engines; (2) pre-programmed searches in the FMO Web Catalogue; and (3) full-text grey literature documents available in the FMO Digital Library.

All attempts were made to highlight relevant resources in other languages besides English (primarily French and Spanish, with some German. Arabic, Chinese, and others). Approximately 25 percent are multilingual; specific URLs are indicated for the different language versions available for a given resource. Geographic diversity among information producers was also an objective; some 59 percent of resources were produced by organizations based in Western Europe, 31 percent came from North America, and 10 percent originated elsewhere.