Frequently Asked Questions About PsycEXTRA^®

If you have a question that's not on this list, please email PsycINFO.

 

PsycEXTRA^® is a unique database devoted to compiling and structuring difficult-to-find, scholarly content that is published outside of peer-reviewed sources. It is a bibliographic and full-text database of content from a variety of highly regarded sources in psychology, behavioral sciences, and health.

As of 2014, nearly 300 domestic and international organizations, state and federal agencies, universities, and associations have provided content. In addition, many individuals have contributed their dissertations, conference presentations, and other work.

PsycEXTRA includes many different types of documents, such as conference materials, reports, newsletters, and monographs, that provide key information for clinicians, researchers, students, information professionals, policy makers, historians, and consumers.

The date range spans the late 19th century (extensive conference proceedings) to upcoming events (conference programs already available for future conferences and announcements of grant funding currently seeking applicants).

PsycEXTRA provides an archive for these hard-to-find materials and indexes them with APA's Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms^® and classification codes, as well as other fields and limits (for complete information, see the Guide to the Fields in PsycEXTRA Records).

 

Here are just a few examples of how end-users use the content to in their practice or research.

• Faculty Researchers—conference presentations provide a competitive advantage for identifying untapped areas of research
• Nutritionists – clinical trial information on the use of dietary supplements
• Students – very current information on events within a short time of occurrence (for example, within weeks of its occurrence in April 2010, there were press releases, brochures and fact sheets, reports, and videos on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Current additions on the oil spill's aftermath include blog entries; reports; newsletter and magazine articles; and conference presentations and abstracts)
• Clinical psychologists – newsletter articles about continuing education from APA Division sources
• Community Nurses and Public Health – reports on community-based health programs for ethnic populations provide policies and guidelines
• Hospice care providers – multimedia films or brochures or fact sheets on end-of-life care that would be helpful to a patient's family
• APA Division members – reports, conference materials, and newsletters related to his or her group
• Caregivers – magazine articles, multimedia, or fact sheets to help them battle stress and find organizations that can help with them care for their charge
• Historians – conference materials and monographs from the earliest days of the development of psychology as a science
• Elementary school guidance counselors – age-appropriate standards and guidelines, newsletter and magazine articles, and brochures to help children struggling with the aftermath of natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy and traumatic events such as the school shootings

Our series of podcasts have also explored database content set into a current, political historical or literary context. The podcasts can easily be slotted into a classroom segment to make research come alive.

 

Gray literature is generally material for professional or lay audiences that is often difficult to find because it is disseminated outside the traditional peer-reviewed journal or scholarly book.

Librarians have called this literature "ephemeral" or "fugitive" because of the challenge it presents to discovery. It often appears only fleetingly: The electronic resources are frequently moved or taken down and lack of indexing makes it difficult to find.

PsycEXTRA currently includes conference materials; clinical trials; reports; dissertations (no overlap with PsycINFO); standards; journals, magazines, and newsletters; brochures and fact sheets; speeches, interviews, and oral histories; and more (for complete information, see the Guide to the Fields in PsycEXTRA Records).

This literature is diverse, ranging from teaching aids; to brief consumer education materials; to very substantive, rigorously researched, reports and monographs; a variety of conference materials. Some have been peer reviewed and some have not.

The work of many researchers is found in gray literature well in advance of any formal, peer-reviewed publication, and PsycEXTRA allows authors to make available the whole lineage of their research and other researchers to trace that history. In addition, as some researchers do not submit their work to scholarly publications; consequently, the results of their research can be found only in the gray literature.

 

PsycINFO^® a department of APA, produces PsycEXTRA.

PsycINFO is the most comprehensive and authoritative publisher of bibliographic reference sources that cover scholarly and peer-reviewed publications in psychology and related disciplines. The department also produces the electronic versions of APA journals and books in PsycARTICLES^® and PsycBOOKS^® databases, PsycCRITIQUES^® database of book and film reviews, PsycTESTS^® database of bibliographic and full-text tests and measures, and PsycTHERAPY^® database of streaming video demonstrations.

 

PsycINFO includes bibliographic data and abstracts from scholarly, peer-reviewed sources; PsycEXTRA contains professional literature from outside the peer-review system that is aimed at both a lay audience and professional audience.

In addition to bibliographic data and abstracts, PsycEXTRA also contains full-text content for a large percentage of documents covered.

 

Many of the document types covered in PsycEXTRA — such as conference papers, technical reports, brochures, and facts sheets — are one-time publications. No retrospective coverage can be provided for these, although original documents are retained in the database along with any updated or revised editions.

However, many of the association and organizational documents, such as standards and guidelines, monographs of early conference proceedings, and newsletters, are archived from the content owners' earliest history.

There is a growing body of historical material in PsycEXTRA, including all issues of the APA Monitor to volume 1. The database also includes many important early works from the mid- to late 19th century, including vital conference presentations, that helped define and shape the study of psychology.

 

Content is added to the database biweekly.

One of our priorities is to include recent materials relevant to psychology, behavioral science, and health. In order to do that, we make reviewing certain major magazines and websites a priority.

In addition, we add materials such as conference abstracts, presentations, and programs as quickly as possible. Some content, such as conference programs, are added well in advance of the conference.

 

Each document in PsycEXTRA is indexed precisely using the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms to help pinpoint accuracy in retrieval.

PsycEXTRA is searchable using a number of fields: Bibliographic data, abstracts, content owners, geographic data, grants, index terms, keywords, and by limits such as classification codes, content owner type, and document type.

 

PsycEXTRA was launched at the end of the second quarter of 2004.

 

PsycEXTRA is updated biweekly.

 

The price of PsycEXTRA for institutions is tiered depending on the size and type of institution. Academic, K–12, public library, corporate, government, and hospital pricing are available. APA believes the data fees are very affordable. Find more details on the Site License Fees for Institutions page.

Pricing for individuals depends on whether you want an annual subscription or on-demand access. Read more on our APA Databases Access for Individuals page.

 

Email PsycEXTRA and we will help you with the submission process. We will forward a coverage agreement for signature to be faxed or emailed back to us. Then just send us your documents. APA will evaluate your content to determine whether it can be included in PsycEXTRA.

Paper documents will be scanned, and a PDF file returned to you if you wish. Organizations that contribute a substantial amount of information will be given a single user license to PsycEXTRA to monitor their material in the database.

 

Yes. COUNTER is a standard for reporting online usage statistics. APA is fully compliant with Counter Release 4. For more information visit the Usage Statistics page in the Librarian's Resource Center or view the APA Usage Statistics tutorial on APA PsycNET usage statistic reports.

APA also provides reports in SUSHI format. For more information on requesting SUSHI, please view this brief tutorial on Retrieving COUNTER 4 Usage Reports via SUSHI.