Policy of the German Education Index

Objectives and Organisation

The bibliographical database German Education Index provided by the Educational Information System (FIS Bildung) is your central online information system for academic educational literature. The services primarily address educational scientists and trainees, but those active in educational practice can also find comprehensive information (pre-primary and school education, special needs education etc.). The database records professional literature from all disciplines of educational science as well as educational policy resources and practical texts and material. The records in the database are selected according to a defined set of criteria, and they are described by means of formal data, indexing and abstracting (so called "metadata"). Indexation is performed by means of a fixed list while more than 50 per cent of the documents are additionally described by abstracts.

All common types of documents are assessed. For instance, approximately 430 professional journals are reviewed on a regular basis, further publications are added by thematic searches. Furthermore, monographs and collected works are taken into account. Since 2004, electronic documents from divers providers and servers are continuously viewed and integrated. A particular focus of the database lies on "grey" literature, e.g. online literature that is published in the framework of larger scale projects.

The annual increase of the database is approximately 25,000 titles. It currently contains 731.275 references dating from 1980 (last updated: Jul 26, 2010). References to publications dated before 1980 are accepted if a link to an electronic version is provided. The database is updated four times a year. The database is subject to open access, and can be used free of charge without limitation.

The German Education Index is produced by a cooperation of approximately 30 partners in documentation services from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, all of them providing data for the collation of this comprehensive information system. The cooperating institutions cover all the important thematic areas of education. Moreover, the German Education Index is of interest to international users as 120.000 references concern foreign language documents. In terms of English language publications, it constitutes an ideal supplement to the ERIC database. Users can announce their own publications by means of a web form provided they meet the criteria of the database.

The German Education Index aims at the provision of accessibility in terms of the German legislative framework, BITV.

The coordinating office of the Educational Information System is located at the German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Please contact bagge@dipf.de if you have any hints or questions.

Criteria of Selection for the German Education Index

The German Education Index provides so-called metadata, i.e. data that describe literature, to its users. For instance, these data concern titles, authors, or types of document. These metadata are subject to the criteria of quality set by the Educational Information System. Only those documents are recorded that agree to the criteria in terms of form, content and type.

Contents of a Document

In order to meet the requirements of the academic profile of the database a document cited by a reference in the German Education Index must be predominantly or partly educational. At least one of its aspects must be subject to one of the following categories:

• History of Education
• General Education (Educational and Pedagogical Philosophy, Educational Science Biographies, Pedagogical Anthropology, Research in Science)
• International Comparative and Multicultural Education
• Empirical Educational Research (including Organisation of Education, Educational Planning, Educational Legislation)
• Curriculum and Teaching / School Pedagogy
• Special Education
• Vocational Education and Economics
• Social Work and Social Pedagogy
• Adult Education (including organisational pedagogy)
• Educational Leisure Research and Physical Education
• Gender Studies and Education
• Media Education
• Environmental Education
• Differential Educational Research (Psychoanalytical pedagogy, pedagogy and humanistic psychology)
• Teaching Methodology
  • general subjects
  • maths and science
  • music and arts
  • practical subjects
  • social sciences and philosophy
  • language and literature
  • higher education

further researching higher education, education policy and education administration

Quality and Form of the Document

A document cited by a record in the German Education Index must meet the following formal criteria:

• Text: At least 50 per cent of the document are full text (exception: bibliographies), but it may contain elements such as tables, figures, diagrams etc. It does not only consist of key words.
• Aimed to be published: The work has been released for publication by its author or publisher.
• Complete content: The work must be complete as to its content. Quotes from external sources have been marked.
• Formal correctness: The work may not contain serious lexical or orthographical errors. Its form is coherent, and consistent with general standards.
• Authenticity: The author or publisher is named.
• Referees: In case of dissertations that are not subject to publication the referee(s) must be named on the cover.
• Static Structure: The work does not contain any alterable (dynamic) structures.
• Availability: The work is not only intended to be available for a short period of time.

Type of document

As a rule works are collated that are available to the user either in physical form (e.g. book, Microfilm, CD-ROM) or in digital form (net publications).
The following list of positive and negative examples informs you about the types of document that are referred to, or not referred to, in the database. This list is not to be seen as complete, but it indicates documents that typically occur in educational contexts.

List of positive examples: references in the FIS Bildung database

• Preprint, Postprint
• Monograph, scientific teaching manual, Festschrift
• Dissertation, PhD thesis, habilitation thesis (compulsory publication)
• Contribution to a serial publication
• Essay in a journal or collective work
• Annual report, research paper, conference proceeding, symposium report, project report
• Contribution to a manual
• Bibliography
• Exhibition catalogue
• Scientific expertise, norm
• Technical report, manual of scales
• learning module, lesson concept, course material, Courseware, fact information as to school subjects
• Lecture manuscripts
• E-book
• Statistical data if they include more than bare figures

Negative list: document types that are not recorded in the database

• Website (static or dynamic), Link, Forum, Weblog
• School book
• Curriculum
• (interim) report, discussion report, working report, account
• Law, by-law, user manual
• Position paper, statement, presentation (e.g. Power Point)
• Announcement, advertisment
• Press release, leaflet
• Handout, notes
• Oral presentation by pupil or student
• Form, set of forms, rules
• Bibliographical list, reference
• Excerpt, Inbook
• Apart from individual documents: collection of data or resources, archives and administrative collections, serial, series, journal periodical
• Database
• Supplement (e.g. CD, CD ROM in books), as an individual record
• Software, e-Mail,
• Game

It is not always possible to draw a strict line between the types of document. In individual cases it may appear necessary to "dilute" the criteria for exemption, for instance when a leaflet is relevant in a historical context. The coordinating office expressly reserves the right to decide in cases of doubt. If you are not sure whether your document can be recorded in the database, please contact Bambey@dipf.de.