Ovid Database Guide

EconLit Database Guide

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Database guide last
updated May 08, 2024

EconLit covers more than 125 years of economics literature from around the world. Updated weekly, it provides an authoritative reference to journal articles, books, book reviews, collective volume articles, working papers, and dissertations--all expertly indexed and classified using subject terms from the well-known JEL Classification System.

EconLit allows you to keep up with developments in economics by providing one convenient place to search across scholarly publications dealing with a broad range of economics issues. For a complete list of the over 1,300 peer-reviewed journals covered in EconLit, see http://www.aeaweb.org/econlit/journal_list.php.

Segments and Years of Coverage
Name		Years of Coverage
econ		1886 to Present

The limit of databases that you can select for a multifile search session is based upon database segments rather than actual databases. The Ovid multifile segment limit is set at 120 to avoid impacting your search sessions. This database includes 1 segment.

This database is updated online weekly.

Fields
The following list is sorted alphabetically by field alias. Click a field name to see the description and search information.
All Fields in this Database
	Abstract (AB)	Festschrift Honoree (FS)	Publisher (PB)
	Accession Number (AN)	Full Publication Date (DP)	Regional Interest (GR)
	All Searchable Fields (AF)	Full Text of Book Review (TX)	Reviewed Author (RA)
	Author (AU)	Heading Words (HW)	Reviewed Book Publication Date (RD)
	Availability (AV)	Institution (IN)	Source (SO)
	Book (BK)	ISBN (IB)	Source Title (ST)
	Book Publishing Information (RP)	ISSN (IS)	Subject Codes (CC)
	Book Title (BT)	Issue/Part (IP)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Cited References (RF)	Journal Name (JN)	Supplementary Material (SM)
	Copyright (CR)	Journal Word (JX)	Text Word (TW)
	Country as Subject (CT)	Key Word (KW)	Title (TI)
	Degree (DG)	Language (LG)	Update Code (UP)
	DOI (DO)	Pagination (PG)	Volume (VO)
	Editor (AO)	Personal Name as Subject (PN)	Year of Publication (YR)
	E-ISSN (EI)	Publication Type (PT)
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Default Fields for Unqualified Searches (MP): Searching for a term without specifying a field in Advanced search, or specifying .mp., defaults to the following ‘multi-purpose’ (.mp.) fields for this database: hw,ab,ti,ct.
	Abstract (AB)	Heading Words (HW)
	Country as Subject (CT)	Title (TI)
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Default Fields for Display, Print, Email, and Save: The following fields are included by default for each record.
	Abstract (AB)	Festschrift Honoree (FS)	Regional Interest (GR)
	Accession Number (AN)	Full Text of Book Review (TX)	Reviewed Author (RA)
	Author (AU)	Institution (IN)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Availability (AV)	ISBN (IB)	Source (SO)
	Book (BK)	ISSN (IS)	Title (TI)
	Cited References (RF)	Key Word (KW)	Update Code (UP)
	Copyright (CR)	Language (LG)
	Country as Subject (CT)	Personal Name as Subject (PN)
	DOI (DO)	Publication Type (PT)
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All Fields for Display, Print, Email, and Save: Use the Select Fields button in the Results Manager at the bottom of the Main Search Page to choose the fields for a record.
	Abstract (AB)	Festschrift Honoree (FS)	Regional Interest (GR)
	Accession Number (AN)	Full Text of Book Review (TX)	Reviewed Author (RA)
	Author (AU)	Institution (IN)	Subject Headings (SH)
	Availability (AV)	ISBN (IB)	Source (SO)
	Book (BK)	ISSN (IS)	Title (TI)
	Cited References (RF)	Key Word (KW)	Update Code (UP)
	Copyright (CR)	Language (LG)
	Country as Subject (CT)	Personal Name as Subject (PN)
	DOI (DO)	Publication Type (PT)
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Elements of Source (SO) Field: Ovid searches the following fields as part of the record source.
	Degree (DG)	Journal Name (JN)	Source Title (ST)
	Editor (AO)	Pagination (PG)	Volume (VO)
	Full Publication Date (DP)	Previously Published Date (CP)	Year of Publication (YR)
	Issue/Part (IP)	Publisher (PB)
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The following list is sorted alphabetically by the two-letter label, and includes the relevant alias, at least one example for all searchable fields, and a description of the field.

Label

Name / Example

Abstract [Word Indexed]
capital gain.ab.
stalin.ab.

The Abstract (AB) field summarizes the content of the document and generally describes the background, methods, results, and conclusions.

Stopwords such as "of" or "the" will display in the Abstract field, but are not searchable and will not appear in the Abstract index.

Advanced Searching
You can use special search syntax listed below to combine search terms or strategically develop a search. Full documentation is provided in the Advanced Searching Techniques section of the Online Help.
Operator	Syntax	Search Example	Sample Results
OR	x or y	poverty or "working poor"	"Ethnic Origin and Multidimensional Relative Poverty in Israel"
	The OR operator retrieves records that contain any or all of the search terms. For example, the search heart attack or myocardial infarction retrieves results that contain the terms heart attack, myocardial infarction or both terms; results are all inclusive. You can use the OR operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
AND	x and y	labor and cost	"firing costs drive a wedge between the marginal revenue product of labor and its marginal cost"
	The AND operator retrieves only those records that include all of the search terms. For example, the search blood pressure and stroke retrieves results that contain the term blood pressure and the term stroke together in the same record; results are exclusive of records that do not contain both of these terms. You can use the AND operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
NOT	x not y	cost not analysis	"Coase Theorem and Transaction Cost Economics in the Law"
	The NOT operator retrieves records that contain the first search term and excludes the second search term. For example, the search health reform not health maintenance organizations retrieves only those records that contain the term health reform but excludes the term health maintenance organizations. In this way, you can use the NOT operator to restrict results to a specific topic. You can use the NOT operator in both unqualified searches and searches applied to a specific field.
Adjacency (ADJ)	x y	cost analysis	"A Travel Cost Analysis of the Value of Special Events"
	The Adjacent operator (ADJ) retrieves records with search terms next to each other in that specific order. You do not need to separate search terms manually by inserting ADJ between them, because when you separate terms with a space on the command line, Ovid automatically searches for the terms adjacent to one another. For example, the search blood pressure is identical to the search blood adj pressure.
Defined Adjacency (ADJn)	x ADJn y	poverty adj3 insurance	"Risk, Insurance, and Poverty: A Review"
	The defined adjacency operator (ADJn) retrieves records that contain search terms within a specified number (n-1) of words from each other in any order (stop-words included). To use the adjacency operator, separate your search terms with ADJ and a number from 1 to 99 as explained below: ADJ1 Next to each other, in any order ADJ2 Next to each other, in any order, up to 1 word in between ADJ3 Next to each other, in any order, up to 2 words in between ADJ99 Next to each other, in any order, up to 98 words in between For example, the search physician adj5 relationship retrieves records that contain the words physician and relationship with a maximum of four words in between in either direction. This particular search retrieves records containing such phrases as physician patient relationship, patient physician relationship, or relationship between cancer patient and physician. Please note Ovid’s order of operation handles terms within parentheses first. Therefore it is recommended to apply the ADJn operator in one-on-one operations to avoid missing out on results. E.g. stroke adj4 (blood pressure or high blood pressure) could potentially miss out on some combinations of stroke with high blood pressure. The optimum way to execute this on Ovid is: (stroke adj4 blood pressure) OR (stroke adj4 high blood pressure).
Frequency (FREQ)	x.ab./FREQ=n	poverty.tx./freq=5	"The SSI program leaves most recipients below the poverty line, but it reduces the poverty gap considerably"
	The frequency operator (FREQ) lets you specify a threshold of occurrence of a term in the records retrieved from your search. Records containing your search term are retrieved only if the term occurs at least the specified (n) number of times. In general, records that contain many instances of your search term are more relevant than records that contain fewer instances. The frequency operator is particularly useful when searching a text field, such as Abstract or Full Text, for a common word or phrase.
Unlimited Truncation ($)	x$	rat$	"Exchange Rate Cointegration across Central Bank Regime Shifts"
	Unlimited truncation retrieves all possible suffix variations of the root word indicated. To apply unlimited truncation to a term, type the root word or phrase followed by either of the truncation characters: $ (dollar sign) or * (asterisk). For example, in the truncated search rat, Ovid retrieves the word rat* as well as the words rats, and more.
limited Truncation ($)	x$n	dog$1	"Can You Teach Old Dogs New Tricks? On Complementarity of Human Capital and Incentives"
	Limited truncation specifies a maximum number of characters that may follow the root word or phrase. For example, the truncated search dog$1 retrieves results with the words dog and dogs; but it does not retrieve results with the word dogma.
Mandated Wildcard (#)	xx#y	wom#n	"Factors That Limit the True Integration of Women at Military Academies."
	Searching with a mandated wildcard retrieves all possible variations of a word in which the wildcard is present in the specified place. You can use it at the end of a term to limit results to only those that contain the word plus the mandated character. For example, the search dog# retrieves results that contain the word dogs, but not those that contain the word dog, effectively limiting results to only those that contain the plural form of the word. The mandated wild card character (#) is also useful for retrieving specialized plural forms of a word. For example, the search wom#n retrieves results that contain both woman and women. You can use multiple wild cards in a single query word.
Optional Wildcard (?)	xx?y	colo?r	"Racial Justice: The Superficial Morality of Colour-Blindness in the United States"
	The optional wild card character (?) can be used within or at the end of a search term to substitute for one or no characters. This wild card is useful for retrieving documents with British and American word variants since it specifies that you want retrieval whether or not the extra character is present. For example, the optional wild card search colo?r retrieves results that contain the words color or colour. You can use multiple wild cards in a single query word.
Literal String ("")	"x / y"	"GATT/WTO"	"On the Economic Success of GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement"
Literal String ("")	"n"	"3".vo	"Japan Labor Review. Vol. 3 (3). p 92-115. Summer 2006. "
	Quotation marks can be used to retrieve records that contain literal strings, when the string includes special characters, such as a forward slash (/). Quotation marks can also be used to retrieve records that contain numbers that may otherwise be confused for earlier searches. In the example, a search for 3.vo would limit the string from your third search in your search history to the volume field. By including the number in quotation marks, the search will retrieve documents with a 3 in the volume number.
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Limits
The following limits are available for this database. See Database Limits in the Ovid Online Help for details on applying limits.
Limit	Syntax
Abstracts	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to abstracts
Abstracts	Command Syntax:	..l/ ab=y
	A limit to Abstracts will restrict retrieval to documents that include an abstract summarizing the content of the document and generally describing the background, methods, results, and conclusions.
Books	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to books
	A limit to Books will restrict retrieval to books. In many cases, there is a corresponding book review available under the publication type 'book review" which can be found by searching the ISBN.
Book Reviews	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to book reviews
	A limit to Book Reviews will restrict retrieval to evaluation of books. The full text of book reviews is provided.
Collective Volume Articles	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to Collective Volume Articles
	A limit to Collective Volume Articles will restrict retrieval to articles from proceedings, edited volumes of articles, reprint collections, and more.
Dissertations	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to Dissertations
	A limit to Dissertations will restrict retrieval to records with a publication type of dissertation.
Full Text	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to full text
	A limit to Full Text will restrict retrieval to those citations for which there is a full text link. Both Ovid full text and external full text are included in this limit.
Journal Articles	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to Journal Articles
	A limit to Journal Articles will restrict retrieval to articles found in journals.
Languages	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to english
	A limit to Language restricts retrieval by the language in which the document is written. You may limit retrieval to one or more languages.
Latest Update	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to Latest Update
	A limit to Latest Update will restrict retrieval to documents that were most recently added to the database. New documents are added to EconLit weekly.
Local Holdings	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to local holdings
	A limit to local holdings will restrict retrieval to documents from journals held in your library or institution. If your OVID System Administrator has created special messages about a journal's availability, this message will display with the document in the Local Holdings (LH) field.
Ovid Full Text Available	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to ovid full text available
	A limit to Ovid Full Text Available will restrict retrieval to those citations for which an Ovid full text link is available.
Publication Years	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to yr=1996
Publication Years	Command Syntax:	..l/1 yr=1996
	A limit to Publication Year will restrict retrieval to documents published in the specified year or range of years. If you choose this option you will be prompted to enter the desired year or year range. The format is 4 digits; "1989" or a range: "1994-1995."
Publication Type	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to book reviews limit 1 to journal articles limit 1 to working papers limit 1 to dissertations
	A limit to Publication Types will restrict retrieval by any of the publication types used for indexing in EconLit, including such classifications as "Dissertation" or "Book." If you choose this list, you will be presented with a list of publication types and a description of each.
Regional Interest	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to asia
	A limit by Regional Interest will restrict retrieval by one of the seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern America, Oceania.
Working Papers	Sentence Syntax:	limit 1 to Working Papers
	A limit to Working Papers will restrict retrieval to documents containing abstracts of working papers in economics.
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Changing to this Database
To change a search session to a segment of this database from another database or another segment, use the following syntax in the Ovid Syntax tab:
	Command Syntax:	..c/econ
	Sentence Syntax:	use econ
Click on this link to see other Advanced Search Techniques
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