APA Announces "Retirement" of the Print Index Psychological Abstracts

Success of the Comprehensive PsycINFO Online Database Has Minimized Print Subscriptions

Media Contact: William C. Hayward
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Phone: 800-374-2722 or 202-336-5652
Fax: 202-336-6191
Web: www.apa.org/databases/

NEW ORLEANS – June 24, 2006 — The American Psychological Association (APA) has announced that Psychological Abstracts (ISSN:  0033-2887), one of the oldest and most respected abstract and index publications, will cease publication in print, after 80 years of publication. APA based this decision on the small number of remaining print subscriptions following many years of subscriber migration to APA's PsycINFO database.

The final issue, Vol. 93, No. 12, will be published in December 2006.

"Given the phenomenal success of PsycINFO, which now provides thousands of libraries worldwide with vastly more content than we could ever deliver with the print index, we now believe we can better serve the few remaining Psychological Abstracts subscribers in other ways," said Linda Beebe, Senior Director, PsycINFO.

Whereas APA has had to limit volume of content published in Psychological Abstracts, the PsycINFO database has expanded rapidly over its 30-year history. In 2005, 116,000 records were added to PsycINFO, but only 37,256 records were published in Psychological Abstracts. Increasing print costs in the face of declining subscriptions have made it necessary to exclude certain document types from Psychological Abstracts, such as dissertation abstracts, journals in languages other than English, and many books.

Impact of this discontinuation on the library community will therefore be minimal. Many of the remaining print subscribers already have site licenses to the PsycINFO database, and APA is already working on the conversion process for those customers who do not.

Questions about the discontinuation of Psychological Abstracts may be directed to PsycINFO at 800-374-2722 or 202-336-5652, or e-mailed to PsycINFO.

About APA Databases

APA Databases are leading information resources in the behavioral sciences. The PsycINFO® abstract database provides access to international professional literature in psychology and such related disciplines as neuroscience, medicine, psychiatry, social work, nursing, sociology, business, education, pharmacology, and physiology, with comprehensiveness and quality unmatched by any A&I database or federated search resource. 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.

PsycARTICLES®, an essential complement to PsycINFO, is a one-stop source for electronic access to the full text of articles from APA's authoritative, peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

PsycBOOKS™ is a full-text collection of chapters from authored and edited scholarly volumes published by APA, as well as a selection of classic works in psychology from other publishers.

PsycEXTRA® is a database of the gray literature in psychology and related behavioral fields, providing access to relevant material published outside the traditional peer reviewed journal or scholarly book.

PsycCRITIQUES™ is a unique electronic periodical delivering 15–20 reviews weekly of current professional psychology books, as well as reviews from a psychological perspective of films and trade books.

About APA

The American Psychological Association (APA), 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 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare.

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