news, politics, sports, technology, and travel; business and technology; hobby and personal interest publications; and Britannica concise encyclopedia, reference works from Oxford University Press, ColumbiaEncyclopedia, dictionaries, thesauruses, and almanacs. It enables professionals to track industry research, news, and trends in various fields, such as consulting, business, education, finance, health care, journalism and literature, public relations, and research; students and professors to research for assignments and course plans, which include English and literature, history, medicine and health care, nursing, physical therapy, and psychology; individuals and families to search articles for book reviews, childhood development, financial advice, history, and medical research.

The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. As of December 15, 2008, HighBeam Research, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Gale, Inc.

HighBeam Research has created several blogs that offer content directly from their online research tool. These include:

BackStories: http://blog.highbeam.com

Arrive Prepared: http://blog.highbeambusiness.com/

Questia: http://blog.questia.com