Guide to the Fields in APA Database Records

APA Databases records are divided into fields, which makes searching the databases easier. What goes into each field varies depending on the type of literature we're documenting.

This guide lists all the fields, plus an explanation of what each field does. For more information on the fields, including hints and historical notes, take a look at our Record Structures:

The * indicates a field that is display only (not searchable) in the APA PsycNET® vendor system.

Check the online help for your search system or the search guide in our Help and Training Center to find out how to use these fields and their values when searching the database.

We also have a printer-friendly version of this field guide in PDF format (64KB), which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have a copy of the Reader, you can download it for free from Adobe's web site.

Updated April 2012

Field Guide

FIELD NAME CONTENT OF FIELD or POSSIBLE VALUES
Unique Identifier PsycINFO unique record identifier
Author Name of Author(s)
Author E-mail Author's e-mail address
Author Correspondence Address Address for corresponding author
Affiliation Institutional affiliation of authors
Title Title of material, including translated titles for non-English language material
Special Section Title  
Source Full citation for journals, book chapters, dissertations, and electronic collections. Publisher, year, and pagination only for books. Contains the sub-field, ARTICLE ID*, uniquely identifies an article-by-article published record.
Page Count* Total number of pages for a journal article. Generally used when pagination is not available.
Publication Status* This field is intended to capture the publication status of an article in journals. Currently, the value First Posting is being used.
Publication Date Document's date of publication. Includes year of publication and may include day, month, or season.
Publication History* Appears only in journal records and may show the dates of First Posting, Accepted Date, Revised Date, and First Submitted date for an article.
Publisher Publisher of the source material
Other Publishers Notes variations of the publisher name. It may occur in any publication type, but is most common in journal records.
Other Serial Titles Notes variations of serial title name. It may appear in records where the Publication Type is Journal, Dissertation Abstract, or Electronic Collection.
Country of Publication* Publisher's location
ISSN / ISBN

ISSN (journals) or ISBN (books)
Book Series ISSNs
Book Set ISBNs

Language Document language
Reviewed Item
(Journal and Electronic Collection records only)
For book, software, etc. reviews, the full citation of the material being reviewed
DOI
(Digital Object Identifier)
Publisher-supplied DOI for linking to full-text
Abstract Summary of document's content
PMID PubMed unique identifier
Keywords Key concepts and / or brief phrases describing document's content
Index Terms
(sometimes called Descriptors, Thesaurus Terms)
Controlled vocabulary from Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms
Classification Code Broad content classification (view codes)
Publication Type

Book

Authored Book

Edited Book

Journal Peer-Reviewed

Journal Non-Peer-Reviewed Journal*

Peer-Reviewed Status-Unknown*

Electronic Collection

Encyclopedia

Book Type

Classic Book

Conference Proceedings

Handbook / Manual

Reference Book

Textbook / Study Guide

Document Type

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-Other

Population

Human

Animal

Male

Female

Inpatient

Outpatient

Age Group Childhood (birth-12 years)

Neonatal (birth-1 month)

Infancy (2-23 months)

Preschool Age (2-5 years)

School Age (6-12 years)

Adolescence (13-17 years)

Adulthood (18 years & older)

Young Adulthood (18-29 years)

Thirties (30-39 years)

Middle Age (40-64 years)

Aged (65 years & older)

Very Old (85 years & older)

Location Country where study was done
Methodology
(view definitions of values)

Brain Imaging

Clinical Case Study

Empirical Study

Experimental Replication

Follow-up Study

Longitudinal Study

Prospective Study

Retrospective Study

Field Study

Interview

Focus Group

Literature Review

Systematic Review

Mathematical Modeling

Meta Analysis

Nonclinical Case Study

Qualitative Study

Quantitative Study

Scientific Simulation

Treatment Outcome / Randomized Clinical Trial

Twin Study

Supplemental Material

3-D modeling images

Appendixes

Audio

Computer Software

Data Sets

DVD / CD

Experimental Materials

Tables and Figures

Text

Video

Web sites

Workbook / Study Guide

Other

Tests & Measures Names of tests and measurements referred to or used in the source material study
Test Digital Object Identifier DOI deposited by APA for linking to test overview records in the PsycTESTS database
Audience Type
(book and chapter records only)
Written for the General Public

Juvenile

Written for Professionals (Psychology: Professional & Research)

Grant / Sponsorship Identifies the source(s) of grants, sponsorship, and funding for the research or study. Subfields include Sponsor Organization, Grant/Contract/Award Number, Funding Amount, Country of Sponsor Organization, Funding Dates, Other Details, and Recipients.
Copyright Data Displays copyright information when an article or chapter record is first published. It may contain copyright statement, copyright holder, and year.
Table of Contents*
(book records only)
Book table of contents
Cited References Reference list published with article, book, chapter, dissertation, or electronic collection (Searchable via PsycNET Cited References search screen)
Release Date
(sometimes called update code)

The date a record was released into a database and the product name to which it was released. The format is YYYYMMDD followed by the product name, e.g., 20090511 (PsycINFO).

Note: If the record was released into another database, e.g., PsycARTICLES, this record will contain two release dates: 20120305 (PsycARTICLES); 20120305 (PsycINFO).

Correction Update Record*

The date a record was corrected if a record is corrected. If corrected, record will always have at least one correction date for PsycINFO. The format is YYYYMMDD and the name of the product in which it was corrected, e.g., 20090701 (PsycINFO).

Note: If the record was corrected in additional products, e.g., PsycCRITIQUES, this record will contain two corrections dates: 20120102 (PsycCRITIQUES); 20120102 (PsycINFO).
http://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/training/field-guide.aspx
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