Need a source? 5 online resouces

Five websites offer time-strapped journos quick access to sources, The International Journalists' Network (IJN) reports.

Five websites offer time-strapped journos quick access to sources, The International Journalists' Network (IJN) reports.

1. ProfNet (sponsered by PR NEwswire for Journalists) has a database of over 300,000 expert profiles. "Journalists can also launch time-sensitive queries for experts in specific regions and cloak their name and news organization," IJN reports. Membership is free — the site is available in Spanish and English.

2. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) boasts over 100,000 active sources. Journos submit pitches and deadline and HARO e-mails a source list.

3. NewsBasis is a free web platform that allows journalists to write requests for info and receive a slew of responses from sources, who they can then follow up with for interviews. IJN notes that journalists using the service "must be from reputable news organizations, demonstrate experience with a news organization or report for a blog dedicated to delivery of news content to an audience (as opposed to the promotion of products and/or consulting services) with substantial readership."

4. Authoratory offers over 100,000 scientific experts in chemsitry, biology and medicine, and data from U.S. National Library of Medicine archive PubMed.

5. Experts.com is a free international database whose sources include authors, consultants, engineers and writers.