APA Announces Archiving Policy for PsycARTICLES

DATE: September 6, 2002
CONTACT: William C. Hayward
(202) 336-5652

WASHINGTON, D.C.– In response to needs expressed by libraries to retain access to digital repositories of journal articles, the American Psychological Association (APA) has announced an archiving policy for the PsycARTICLES™ full-text database.

Under the policy, institutions retain content published during the span of a paid PsycARTICLES site license, with no charge for the data, should the customer cancel the site license. For example, a customer who licenses PsycARTICLES from 2002 through 2005 and does not renew for 2006 would retain access to electronic full text of articles published in 2002-2005 issues of journals covered in the database, with no data fee charged by APA. Pre-2002 backfile data and current updates would not be provided.

Fees for providing a server and search interface for accessing the archived data would continue and would depend on which service-APA PsycNET or a major vendor system-the customer selected.

"We've been discussing archiving with librarians extensively since the inception of PsycARTICLES," said Linda Beebe, Senior Director, PsycINFO, "and we believe that the new policy, with its close fit with what happens in the traditional print subscription, makes sense both for libraries and for APA. The annual site license fee for PsycARTICLES covers access to the current year's content with updates as they are loaded, with the backfile provided at no additional charge to active licensees as a courtesy. So under the archiving policy a customer who chooses not to renew retains access to issues published during the years the license was active, just as a print subscriber retains physical copies of journal issues published during the span of a print subscription."

APA also has a policy for the long-term preservation of its extensive digital repository of behavioral sciences knowledge. In the unlikely event that APA could no longer maintain its archives, the archives would transfer to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The full text of APA's archiving policy for PsycARTICLES is posted at http://www.apa.org/psycarticles/archiving.html. For more information, contact APA at 800-374-2722 or 202-336-5650, or send e-mail to PsycINFO.

About PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, and APA

PsycARTICLES is a complementary database to PsycINFO®, which is always among the most heavily used databases on university campuses. Now users can search PsycINFO and link directly to full text in APA journal articles, which formerly were available to institutional users in print only. In addition to the EBSCO, OCLC, Ovid, and SilverPlatter delivery, PsycARTICLES is available directly from APA and will soon be available on ProQuest and NISC. Other distribution contracts are in negotiation. More information about PsycARTICLES can be found at www.apa.org/psycarticles.

The PsycINFO abstract database provides access to international professional literature in psychology and such related disciplines as medicine, psychiatry, social work, nursing, sociology, business, education, pharmacology, and physiology. Providing both a deep backfile and timely access to current research through weekly updates, PsycINFO spans the history of the discipline, from the origins of psychology in the nineteenth century to the cutting-edge findings of today's behavioral sciences. More information about PsycARTICLES can be found at www.apa.org/psycinfo.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 155,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 55 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 59 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare.

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