Featured Resource - 2007 No. 104

Past Issues

PsycINFO   

What is PsycINFO?

PsycINFO is an electronic bibliographic database that provides abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health. 

In addition to covering journals in psychiatry and psychology, PsycINFO covers journals in many health-related fields including pharmacology, nursing, rehabilitation, health administration, and epidemiology.

Articles from these journals dealing with the behavioral causes and effects of physical disorders, behavioral treatments for physical illness, and behavioral aspects of care are selected for inclusion.

PsycINFO also includes articles about professional issues for health and mental-health personnel including training, ethics, and standards.

PsycINFO contains ...

• nearly 2.3 million records,
• in over 27 languages,
• dating from the 1890s to the present,
• with weekly updates.
• Publications types include:
  • journal articles
  • books
  • book chapters
  • dissertations
  • web sites
  • conferences
  • book reviews

Journal Coverage

• More than 2,150 journal titles are indexed by PsycINFO.
• 98% of these journal titles are peer-reviewed.
• Journals are accepted for coverage if archival, scholarly, peer-reviewed, and regularly published, and provide titles, abstracts, and keywords in the English language.
• Journal records comprise 78% of the PsycINFO database
• PsycINFO provides cover-to-cover coverage of 1,100 titles.

Book Coverage

• PsycINFO indexes books and book chapters from authored and edited works,
• that are written in the English language and published worldwide,
• and are scholarly, professional or research-based, with a psychological relevance.

Access to PsycINFO

• PsycINFO is available at UVM through CSA, a worldwide information company that specializes in publishing and distributing bibliographic and full-text databases and journals. 
• CSA Illumina is a simple, user-friendly interface that is ideal for novice searchers, while offering powerful options for users who require them.
• To begin a PsycINFO search, go to Dana Medical Library's homepage.
• Click on the link for PsycINFO under Databases & E-Books.  
• To access PsycINFO from off-campus, you must be a UVM or FAHC faculty, staff, or student.  See the Connect from Off-Campus link on the Dana Medical Library homepage for details.
• Unaffiliated patrons may use PsycINFO on site at Dana Medical Library. 

Perform a PsycINFO search

• Enter a word or phrase representing first concept into first box of first row.  Enter commonly used synonyms for that concept into 2nd and 3rd boxes on that row.
• Use the pull-down box for that row to restrict search to specific field such as author, title, journal, abstract, or descriptor, or search for the term Anywhere.
• Enter word or phrase representing second concept and its synonyms into boxes on second row.  Select field from drop down box, or search Anywhere.
• Repeat for third concept.

• Chose limits from the following options:
  • date
  • publication type
  • language
  • population
  • age group
  • target audience
  • methodology
  • supplemental data

• Click Search.
• Click on tabs to view results of specific publication type, or view all Publication Types.

• Results are displayed in Short format, as depicted below.

• Additional information is available by clicking on the title or View Record. Full PsycINFO records include:
  • Citation
  • Abstract
  • Descriptors from the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
  • Classification categories
  • Tests and measures used in the research
  • Table of Contents (books)
  • Links to the full article when available
  • Cited references for records from 2001+
  • Citing articles
  • and more.
• An excerpt of a typical record is shown below. 

• Mark records you wish to retain for later action.
• Click on Save/Print/Email (located under Publication Types tabs) to take desired actions. 
• Click on Check Local Holdings to access full-text of the article.

Special Features

• Capability for saving searches and creating auto alerts
• QuickBib for citation management

For more information about performing a search in PsycINFO or using any other library resource,

• Contact a reference librarian at Dana Medical Library by phone at 656-2201 or email at danaref@uvm.edu.
• Stop by the reference desk at Dana Medical Library Mon-Friday 10:00 am - 4:00 pm for personal assistance.