Psycinfo

PsycINFO, produced and copyrighted by the American Psychological Association (APA), is an electronic database of bibliographic citations and abstracts of scholarly literature pertaining to the field of mental health and behavioral sciences, and psychology-related aspects of other disciplines. The literature coverage in PsycINFO, spanning from 1887 to present, covers more than 50 countries and more than 25 languages. It includes journal articles; book chapters and books; dissertations; technical reports; and other publications such as conference proceedings, program evaluations, and psychological assessment instruments. The database is updated weekly and contains more than 2 million publication records. Since its first publication in 1967, PsycINFO has become one of the most widely used resources for scholarly and professional research.

The PsycINFO database is an electronic version of the print publication Psychological Abstracts. As of August 2005, PsycINFO's journal coverage accounts for 78% of the database and includes 1,980 titles, 98% of which are peer reviewed. The journal coverage list changes monthly as journals are added or discontinued. Book chapters from edited books make up 7% of the database; authored and edited books make up 3%. The final 12% of the database is devoted to dissertations and other secondary publications. Nearly all publication records, from 1995 to present, provide abstracts and are provided in APA-style format.

Literature searches on PsycINFO records can be conducted in various ways. Records are divided into fields. The content of each field varies depending on [Page 798] the type of literature documented within the database. For instance, one can complete a search by using one or more of the following fields: author, title, keywords, document type, language, population group, or publication year, or by choosing additional fields not mentioned here. Search results are listed by record date, beginning with the most recently published. Each record, at a minimum, generally contains the name and affiliation of the author, title, source, abstract, and publication year. To maximize the precision of research efforts, PsycINFO users can refer to the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, which provides the most up-to-date controlled vocabulary terms and scientific terminology.

Access to PsycINFO is available through individual- or institution-based subscriptions obtained from the APA. Most academic institutions provide access to PsycINFO for their faculty, staff, and students. PsycINFO does not provide access to the full text of the documented records. Full-text articles can be obtained through other APA services such as PsycARTICLES or directly from libraries or through interlibrary loan services. Publishers and/or authors interested in submitting their publication for coverage in PsycINFO may do so by following the APA guidelines provided at http://www.apa.org/psycinfo/about/covinfo.html.