Analysis of the time and workers needed to conduct systematic reviews of medical interventions using data from the PROSPERO registry

Ref ID 135
First Author R. Borah
Journal BMJ OPEN
Year Of Publishing 2017
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5337708/pdf/bmjopen-2016-012545.pdf
Keywords Protocols
General medical
Problem(s) Untimely (taking too long) or resource intensive
Number of systematic reviews included 195
Summary of Findings From the 195 published systematic reviews, the mean project length (using the registered project start date on PROSPERO to the review’s publication date) was 67.3 weeks (SD=31.0; range 6–186 weeks). The authors provide the caveat that calculations for time were anchored by the registered date of the start of the project, but that it takes time to assemble the team, determine inclusion and exclusion criteria, conduct preliminary searches to refine the search syntax, and obtain funding (if the review is specifically funded) and therefore they predict that the time to publication from the very first activities of some reviews may be substantially longer than this estimate.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? Not Applicable
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes