Abstract The Cochrane Collaboration was established in 1993, following the opening of the
UK Cochrane Centre in 1992, at a time when searching for studies for inclusion in …

Objective Search strategies are essential for the adequate retrieval of studies in a systematic
review (SR). Our objective was to identify problems in the design and reporting of search …

Despite recognition that database search alone is inadequate even within the health
sciences, it appears that reviewers in fields that have adopted systematic review are …

Systematic reviews have become increasingly critical to informing healthcare policy;
however, they remain a time-consuming and labor-intensive activity. The extraction of data …

Background: The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions provides
instructions for documenting a systematic review's electronic database search strategy …

Background Overviews of systematic reviews attempt to systematically retrieve and
summarise the results of multiple systematic reviews. Methods for conducting, interpreting …

Introduction As standardized reporting requirements for systematic reviews are being
adopted more widely, review authors are under greater pressure to accurately record their …

Systematic reviews (SR) are a strategic resource for many who may assume that
comprehensive computer searches are used to identify the studies that are used in SR. The …

This paper attempts to explain why systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials, based
on as high a proportion as possible of the relevant studies, are so important in generating …

Background Systematic literature searching is recognised as a critical component of the
systematic review process. It involves a systematic search for studies and aims for a …