APA PsycInfo on Ovid – Multiple Databases, Single Session

Background

APA PsycInfo describes itself as "(T)he premier abstracting and indexiing database covering the behavioral and social sciences from the authority in psychology". (1) A resource produced and made available by the American Psychological Association (APA), APA PsycInfo, along with Ovid MEDLINE and Embase on Ovid, constitute, in their respective fields, the largest and most comprehensive Abstracting and Indexing (A&I) databases for peer-reviewed scientific information. 

APA PsycInfo on Ovid – Facts and Figures (1)

• A bibliographic database, APA PsycInfo is made up of over 5.7 million database records.
• Within these database records are some 144 million cited references.
• The database records are derived from 2,400 journals.
• Database records are indexed using the APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms (R).
• Content includes not only journal articles but also book chapters and dissertations.
• Spanning 600 years of content, the database is updated twice weekly.
• Additional topics related to psychology, also covered range from AI to education, medicine and sports.

Training Session Programme

This Learning Pathway series of training modules draws upon the content and teaching approaches in and behind the learning resource OvidGO! (2). Constructed around a selection of focused searches, the training programme has been designed to achieve the following two objectives,

1. to introduce the database, APA PsycInfo on Ovid, drawing upon where helpful, parallels and comparisons with Ovid MEDLINE,
2. to discuss, demonstrate and practice the key features and functionality of the database APA PsycInfo on Ovid. 

(1). See https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psycinfo/index
(2). See https://tools.ovid.com/ovidgo/       

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This focused search launches a search strategy that operates across two databases, namely APA PsycInfo on Ovid and Ovid MEDLINE - at the same time. The search is investigating the role of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in the treatment of adolescents suffering from depression. The difficulty is that three marked concepts, namely adolescents, depression and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are treated differently by the controlled vocabularies of the target databases, APA PsycInfo on Ovid and Ovid MEDLINE.

The ‘Romper Search’, enabled on the Ovid platform by deploying the USE command to change databases, provides a means of searching two or more databases in a single session while still making use of the thesaurus and limits selection, specific to each of the databases. The instructions below plus the accompanying supplemental documentation describe in detail how to build such a search. Once practiced and familiar with the construction of this type of search, you could save it in Ovid My Workspace as a model example, for re-use and further development.

Points to note:

• The regulatory environment around drug and device safety usually requires that A&I databases be consulted individually.
• Best practice guidelines around systematic literature searching also recommends searching in separate databases.
• APA psycInfo on Ovid and Ovid MEDLINE are both available on the Ovid platform and can be searched individually or in combination.
• When searching the databases in combination, search expressions employing the Title (TI) or Abstract (AB) fields, either separately or in combination, yield reliable results. As does Ovid’s Basic Search (NLP) mode. So too does Ovid’s .mp (Multi-Purpose) search function. This however needs qualification as the set of fields searched across in each case differs between databases.  
• However, where the search strategy wants to avail of the specific thesaurus qualities of the target databases and/or the database’s own selection of limits, problems of inaccurate term or terms translation or rendering may occur.
• Named the ‘Romper Search’ Ovid has developed a search option that, utilizing the USE command, facilitates a single search across two or more databases in one session enabling searchers to avail of the databases’ specific construction, their database specific controlled vocabulary and sets of limits.

Instructions:

1. Logon to Ovid, select firstly APA PsycInfo on Ovid and the Advanced Search / Keyword mode.
2.  Enter the search expressions for this database.
3. Park your APA PsycInfo on Ovid results in the search history using the database segment abbreviation ‘psyh'.
4. While still in the Ovid session, next select Ovid MEDLINE and remain in the Advanced Search / Keyword mode.
5. Enter the search expressions for this database.   
6. Park your Ovid MEDLINE results in the search history using the database segment abbreviation ‘medall’.
7. Now re-run your parked searches through APA PsycInfo on Ovid and Ovid MEDLINE in the one session.
8. Combine your parked searches using the OR operator.
9. Add limits or impose additional search criteria, e.g. deduplication, as necessary.
10. Alternatively, having not yet logged on,  <Click here> to run this focused search above in Ovid.

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adolescent health/ [APA PsycInfo Entry Term: adolescents]    
youth mental health/ [Additional term from thesaurus]    
1 or 2    
exp major depression/ [APA PsycInfo Entry Term: depression]   
exp cognitive behavior therapy/ [APA PsycInfo Entry Term: cbt]    
3 and 4 and 5  
6 use psyh   
Adolescent/ [Ovid MEDLINE Entry Term: adolescents]    
Depression/ [Ovid MEDLINE Entry Term: depression]   
exp Depressive Disorder/ [Additional term from thesaurus]    
9 or 10    
exp cognitive behavior therapy/ [Ovid MEDLINE Entry Term: cbt]   
8 and 11 and 12   
13 use medall 
7 or 14    
remove duplicates from 15 

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Questions:

1. How could you expand upon the search using free terms?
2. Would the limit Publication Type [PT] cover clinical trials for both databases?
3. How could you identify the duplicates within APA PsycInfo on Ovid only?

Search Stategy

Copy Strategy Launch Search

Reviewers

Primary: Michael Fanning

Secondary: Charlotte Viken

Review Date: 2025-03-17

Expiry Date: 2026-03-17

Original search produced by:

Ovid Training Team

References:

Romper Search Presentation 1Q2025
https://tools.ovid.com/filemanager/uploads/Romper_Search_Presentation_1Q2025.pdf

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OvidGO! / Skills Videos / General Introduction
What is a bibliographic database?
What is the structure of a database?
What is Ovid MEDLINE?
What are Boolean Operators?
What are wildcards?
Subject heading searching

Citation:

OvidGO! Portal. Focused Searches: APA PsycInfo on Ovid – Multiple Databases, Single Session [Internet]. London (UK): Ovid Training Team (Editors); 2025 [updated 2 March 2024; cited 10 March 2025]. Available from: https://tools.ovid.com/ovidgo/searches/view.php?id=118