PAIS has references to more than journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more.

Major areas of coverage include: Affirmative action, AIDS, Asbestos removal and health-related issues, Assisted Suicide, Campaign Funding, Child Labor, Child Sexual Exploitation, Citizen Militia, Climate Change, Cybercops, Disaster Relief, Ethnic Cleansing, Female Circumcision, Free Speech, Generation-X, Genetic Engineering, Globalization, Growth Hormones, Gun Control, Home Drug Testing, Intellectual Property Rights, Internet, Neo-Nazis, Ozone Depletion, Patenting Human Genes, Political Correctness, Political Persecution, Privatized Space Exploration, Recycling, Spousal Abuse, Street Children, Teen Pregnancy, Violence on TV, Virtual Reality, Waste Minimization, Weapon Stockpiles, and Workplace Violence.

PAIS International includes publications from over 120 countries throughout the world. In addition to English, some of the indexed materials are published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. PAIS Internationl is updated monthly and covers from 1915 to the present.