Comprehensive Database of Drug Discrimination Research

Stolerman, Ian

Abstract

This project will provide an exhaustive bibliographic list and a comprehensive index of all published works in which drugs function as discriminative stimuli (cues). The drug discrimination technique is one of the most widely used behavioral approaches in psychopharmacology. The research adds to knowledge of the effects, modes of action and abuse liability of psychoactive drugs, and it also constitutes a vital standard method used in efforts to develop new agents for use in psychiatry including, but not limited to, treatments for drug abuse. The database will be maintained with standard database management software supplemented by custom programs to produce and format the index and to handle synonyms. The detailed keywording system specific to drug discrimination research is a unique feature of this service. New entries for the database will be drawn from published literature and they will be indexed with a list of standardized keywords. Original research articles, review papers, books, book chapters and abstracts (when published in archival form) will be included. The database will be continuously updated and it will be easily available to all research workers and to other suitable persons or organizations. It will be disseminated primarily via the Internet; users will access the database site on the World Wide Web to carry out on-line searches, to download the entire database, or to download comprehensive pre-formatted bibliographies and indexes. A variety of formats for different software and computer systems is offered. The database will also be distributed on request in paper form and on computer disks. In addition, review articles based on the database will be published from time to time. The database is a continuation of an existing project utilizing tried and tested methods. There will be no other way to gain access to the drug discrimination literature that will be as comprehensive or that will allow an equal degree of precision for selective searching. The database now covers year 1951-1997 (2,585 citations); it is estimated this will increase to over 3,000 in the next three years.