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Public Records

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 120 Accesses

Synonyms

Definition

A public record is a document that has few restrictions on access. Public records are required by law to be created, stored, and available. Public records are created in the performance of duty from government officials.

Introduction

Public records such as census data and business records are available for access by the public. Online resources such as Archives.gov and PACER.govincrease availability of access to the majority of people (for more, see section on Online Resources for Public Records). Not all public records are available online; however, there has been a recent increase in use of online records due to their accessibility. Social scientists are among the most frequent users of these public...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Katrina M. Ellis & Darby Proctor

Authors
  1. Katrina M. Ellis
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  2. Darby Proctor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katrina M. Ellis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, 492 Bluemont Hall, Manhattan, KS, USA

    Gary L Brase

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Ellis, K.M., Proctor, D. (2016). Public Records. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1851-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1851-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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