Bibliographic databases act as search tools to locate relevant literature and information, but they also disseminate information about the works indexed in the records. Articles and authors that cannot be found cannot be cited, and the ability to disseminate data for that particular work is diminished. This study found no significant differences in publication patterns in a small sample of men and women educational researchers. However, results indicated that 50% of the published work of researchers in this sample was not retrievable by author name. The Educational Resources Information Center's (ERIC's) "First Author and Others" policy (which changed in 1998 to include all personal authors appearing on a document) and the Institute for Scientific Information's (ISI's) use of APA (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) format in indexing author names limits the ability of users to access records in author name searches. Technology has advanced; these policies are no longer necessary. Core literature indexing policies can be detrimental to women researchers who are more prone to hyphenation, name changes, and name variants than are men. Women are also more likely to be subsequent authors than are men, and are therefore more likely to be limited by database policies. Database policies should be changed to credit all authors for their work. Tips are provided for limiting the damage of the most common pitfalls. (AEF)