- Framework of problems / Transparent
- Methods not described to enable replication
- Compliance of systematic reviews in veterinary journals with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) literature search reporting guidelines
| Ref ID | 310 |
| First Author | L. C. Toews |
| Journal | JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: JMLA |
| Year Of Publishing | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5490700/pdf/jmla-105-233.pdf |
| Keywords |
• Animal studies • Searching • Grey literature • Reproducibility |
| Problem(s) |
• Insufficient literature searches • Search strategy not provided • Grey literature excluded • Methods not described to enable replication |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 75 |
| Summary of Findings | Most reviews had significant deficiencies in reporting the search process that raise questions about how these searches were conducted and ultimately cast serious doubts on the validity and reliability of reviews based on a potentially biased and incomplete body of literature. Over one-third of reviews (37%) did not search the CAB Abstracts database, and 9% of reviews searched only 1 database. Over two-thirds of reviews (65%) did not report any search for grey literature or stated that they excluded grey literature. The majority of reviews (95%) did not report a reproducible search strategy. |
| Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? | N/A |
| Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? | Yes |