December 2023 Newsletter
December 2023 Newsletter
Galter Library
By Q. Eileen Wafford, MSt, MLIS, AHIP, Research Librarian
Systematic reviews and scoping reviews offer comprehensive insights into existing literature or evidence on a specific topic. At the heart of these reviews lies a structured search process, which involves developing a robust search strategy, searching various information sources and documenting findings and the process to minimize bias and facilitate transparent reporting.
Prior to starting the search, reviewers should have a solid foundation in key areas of the review process including knowledge of useful tools and resources. Galter Library offers the following classes which will help review teams build the necessary groundwork for effective navigation through the search process.
Developing a Comprehensive Search Strategy
The search for evidence for systematic and scoping reviews requires a comprehensive strategy that is inclusive and aims for high sensitivity to minimize the risk of missing relevant studies. Galter Library will offer a two-part workshop in March and April 2024 on the search process. The search phase involves several critical steps, starting with the formulation of a research question or questions.
The research question guides the entire review process and helps identify the key concepts that need to be explored. Often, teams can utilize frameworks like PICO (Patient/Population/Problem, Intervention/Exposure, Comparator, Outcome/s) or PCC (Population, Concept, Context) to help identify key concepts. These key concepts, in turn, lead to term identification. This involves the selection of keywords and controlled vocabulary terms related to the research question. Keywords are natural language words that describe the topic, while controlled vocabulary terms come from authoritative sources like the National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) thesaurus.
Once the keywords and controlled vocabulary terms are identified, they are combined using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to create search strategies.
Translating and Running Search Strategies
The search strategies are then translated and applied to information sources such as databases like PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus. Teams identify their information sources in the protocol. The process of translating these search strategies involves considering field codes or tags, controlled vocabulary, limits and search filters that align with the distinct syntax and features of each database.
Reviewers can evaluate their search strategy and process with the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS) checklist. The PRESS checklist is a structured framework that ensures quality and comprehensiveness through guidance that enhances transparency and replicability of the search process.
Documentation and Reporting
Thorough documentation is at the heart of systematic and scoping reviews as it ensures replicability and allows readers to assess the study's design and execution. This promotes transparency by fostering greater understanding of the process, scope and limitations. In addition to reporting guidelines like PRISMA-P for developing the protocol and PRISMA 2020 Statement for writing up the final systematic review or the PRIMSA ScR for scoping reviews, there is a reporting guideline for the search called the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Literature Search Extension or PRISMA-S. The PRISMA-S checklist offers items and guidance to ensure teams capture essential components of the literature search.
Crafting and running a well-structured and comprehensive literature search are pivotal in conducting high-quality systematic and scoping reviews. Fortunately, review teams have resources to develop comprehensive and transparent searches. Visit Galter’s classes page to see related trainings or reach out to your Liaison Librarian for more information.
