In Case You Missed It: New Terms Added to the PsycINFO Thesaurus

In November 2015, we released an update to The Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, the source of the controlled vocabulary used in indexing PsycINFO® and the other APA databases. This particular update was significantly larger than previous vocabulary updates, containing 227 new Index Terms.

In December, we shared the details of the update, highlighting some of the new terms and other changes that were incorporated. We also provided a document with the full list of Index Terms included in the update.

Did you miss that post? Take a look! It explains several important points about the new terminology, including a change to the language used to tag research on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Related Resources

Changes to the Thesaurus sometimes impact search alerts and saved searches. For example, when a new term replaces an older term, saved searches and search alerts created with the older term will no longer generate updates. In this update, 5 terms were changed such that any saved searches or search alerts that use them will no longer retrieve the desired results.

Here are the terms that were changed, along with the new Index Terms that have taken their places:

Terms that are now Use references New Index Terms to search
Aspergers Syndrome
Autism
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Complications (Disorders) Sequelae
Q Sort Testing Technique Q-Sort

 

For assistance in updating your search alerts, please see our post PsycINFO Expert Tip: Updating Search Alerts When a Thesaurus Term Changes.

Introducing the PsycCRITIQUES Spotlight

PsycCRITIQUES® is APA’s database of reviews of psychology related books, films, and videos. These reviews are ideal for instructors in need of classroom activities and readings, librarians responsible for collection development, and practitioners looking to keep current.

Screenshot of Highlights in Psychological Research webpageFor several years, the editors of PsycCRITIQUES maintained a blog, where they discussed the topics raised in the books being reviewed. The blog now has a new format – PsycCRITIQUES Spotlight – and a new home with our Highlights in Psychological Research.

In addition to the PsycCRITIQUES Spotlight, our Highlights in Psychological Research include the APA Journals Article Spotlight™ and Particularly Exciting Experiments in Psychology™ (PeePs). These look at the latest research from APA Journals; Article Spotlights through the lens of a single article, and PeePs explore trends in recent publications. Finally, the APA Journals Dialogue podcast connects listeners with authors, who discuss the findings from recent research, and implications for further work.

Highlights in Psychological Research are rich source of information. They’re a useful tool for anyone looking to keep current with new developments in behavioral sciences research. They can also be used by students and instructors when brainstorming topics for assignments, and by librarians who need fresh ideas for search examples.

Related Resources:
Visit the PsycINFO YouTube channel to watch a brief video exploring PsycCRITIQUES.

New Terms Added to the PsycINFO Thesaurus

By Ian Galloway, Senior Vocabulary Development Specialist

We recently released an update to The Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, the source of the controlled vocabulary used in indexing PsycINFO and the other APA databases. All of the items included in APA databases – journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, and more – are represented by a record that is indexed, or tagged, with Index Terms from the Thesaurus. This allows someone searching a database to quickly find all of the items about a particular concept, such as Affirmative Therapy, Playfulness, or Transactional Leadership, no matter what terminology the authors used.

Keywords, Index Terms, and PsycINFO Classification Codes from a record in the PsycARTICLES database.

Keywords, Index Terms, and PsycINFO Classification Codes from a record in the PsycARTICLES database.

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FAQ: PsycARTICLES & PsycINFO

One of our most frequently asked questions is one of the simplest to answer. The question? Are all the journals in PsycARTICLES® also indexed in PsycINFO®?

The answer is yes! All of the PsycARTICLES records are also in PsycINFO. That includes APA journals back to the first issue of publication (except for Rehabilitation Psychology, for which we begin coverage in 1972 at Volume 19), as well as records for the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe Publishing Group, which also go back to the first issue in most cases.

Not only will you find the PsycARTICLES records in PsycINFO, you’ll also find records for all the content in PsycBOOKS® and PsycCRITIQUES®.