How to reference and link to summary or text

A key objective of The Psychology Wiki is to document all the significant references in psychology and link each to either a copy of the full text or to a summary on the MEDLINE database via PubMed etc.

References should follow broadly the form of APA style and be referenced in the text by author {date}, which will link to a record page for that reference

They should then be fully referenced at the foot of the article in the normal way.

The author date should be linked to the page for that reference

There seems to be no problem linking to a full text article elsewhere on the web in a straight forward way as can be seen with the demonstration on the community portal bulletin board with PhDitis.

Linking to the major databases seems more problematic. If the database assigns a stable code to each reference article then we seem to be able to access it with the input of just one password eg Proquest.As long as the cookie issued with that password is active we can continue to access the item. On the AIDS page copied from Wikipedia the PMID template call links articles to  PubMed based on a number indexed for Medline. The cite journal and  cite Web templates dont seem to work yet but once they are sorted this looks the way forward.

One format for a PubMed link is this:


 * Quantum optical coherence in cytoskeletal microtubules: implications for brain function

uids = the PMID: 7919117 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] number

However some databases, say Psychinfo seem to allocate addresses on a dynamic basis and these are not reliably retained across sessions. Further research is required on this point and you can build on this article or use the discussion pages to make points.

To see what is possible look at Somatostatin note the different databases referencing the hormone. Click on the link to the EntrezGene database. This type of facility is going to be a powerful way for us to integrate our knowledge into a broader framework.