LibGuides: PsycINFO: About

Subject Coverage

Applied psychology
Communication systems
Developmental psychology
Educational psychology
Experimental human and animal psychology
Personality
Psychological and physical disorders
Physiological psychology and neuroscience
Professional personnel and issues
Psychometrics and statistics
Social psychology
Social processes and issues
Sports psychology and leisure
Treatment and prevention

Publication Types

PsycINFO^® indexes 8 publication types, 5 book types and 17 document types.

Abstract Collection
Bibliography
Chapter
Column/Opinion
Comment/Reply
Dissertation
Editorial
Encyclopedia Entry
Erratum/Correction
Journal Article
Letter
Obituary
Poetry
Publication Information
Reprint
Review-Book
Review-Media
Review-Software & Other
Classic Book
Conference Proceedings
Handbook/Manual
Reference Book
Textbook/Study Guide
Book
Authored Book
Edited Book
Peer-Reviewed Journal
Non-Peer-Reviewed Journal

What is PsycINFO?

PsycINFO^® provides access to international literature in psychology and related disciplines. Unrivaled in its depth of psychological coverage and respected worldwide for its high quality, the database is enriched with literature from an array of disciplines related to psychology such as psychiatry, education, business, computers, medicine, nursing, pharmacology, law, linguistics, and social work. Nearly all records contain non-evaluative summaries, and all records are indexed using the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms.

Practitioners, researchers, and students working in all areas of psychology, the behavioral sciences, and other related disciplines will benefit from the information found within this essential resource. PsycINFO includes psychological research and its applications; the database is of prime relevance to many industries and research establishments worldwide. The sources include peer-reviewed journals, chapters, books and dissertations, published internationally; approximately 1,561 of the journals are comprehensively covered (“cover to cover”). Additionally, there are approximately 27 million cited references.

PsycINFO is a department of the American Psychological Association (APA) dedicated to creating products that make it easier for researchers to locate psychological literature relevant to their research topics. PsycINFO staff members locate and summarize psychologically relevant documents from a wide range of disciplines, and disseminate these summaries in forms suited to easy access and retrieval.

Benefits of PsycINFO

Since first being offered in print as Psychological Abstracts in 1927 and subsequently as the electronic database PsycINFO in 1967, the American Psychological Association has chronicled issues in psychology through highly selective coverage of a wide variety of sources. The current PsycINFO database enables researchers, students, faculty, librarians, government agencies, and others to conduct complete research in the field of psychology in resources dating to 1806.

Why should I use PsycINFO?
Because it :

Makes available online the complete file of the leading psychology database.
Provides quality librarians can count on.
Positions libraries to recapture valuable shelf space.
Guarantees subscribing libraries long-term access to a unique resource that indexes important and not widely held resources.
Contains unique material and retrospective coverage not available in other resources.
Helps librarians provide well-balanced information from a variety of viewpoints and sources.
Helps researchers and practitioners stay abreast of latest advances in the field of psychology.
Enables researchers and students to explore cutting-edge research.
Allows practitioners to follow new techniques in clinical practice.

Related Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 10,506 journals, including full text for 3,229 non-open access peer-reviewed titles.
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 4,600 journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
PsycARTICLES This link opens in a new window
PsycARTICLES®, from the American Psychological Association, offers complete access to the full text of more than 80 landmark psychology journals in behavioral science and related fields ranging from education, to nursing, to business, to neuroscience.
PsycARTICLES®, from the American Psychological Association, offers complete access to the full text of more than 80 landmark psychology journals in behavioral science and related fields ranging from education, to nursing, to business, to neuroscience. Includes basic/experimental psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology, education and school psychology, health psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, social psychology and social processes.
Psychology Database This link opens in a new window
This database provides abstracts and indexing for more than 640 titles, with over 540 titles available in full text. Coverage ranges from behavioral, clinical, cognitive, developmental, experimental, industrial and social psychology, etc.

Selection Policy

Each publication indexed in PsycINFO has been carefully selected by a team of experts for relevance; direction advised by esteemed scholars, scientists, and librarians within APA's membership and the library community; professional coverage beyond psychology to include related disciplines such as medicine, law, social work, neuroscience, business, nursing, forensics, engineering, and more.

Publication Coverage

To view the latest title list and publication coverage, please visit:

PsycINFO title list
View the latest title list and publication coverage here.