| Ref ID | 542 |
| First Author | J. Yaffe |
| Journal | PLOS ONE |
| Year Of Publishing | 2012 |
| URL | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3344923/pdf/pone.0036626.pdf |
| Keywords |
• General medical • Cochrane |
| Problem(s) |
• Weaknesses identified in some Cochrane reviews |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review |
| First Author Country | United States |
| Aim | To assess the incidence and general characteristics of empty systematic reviews (reviews with no included studies) in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews up to August 2010. |
| Level of Investigation | Descriptive |
| Summary of Findings | 8.7% of reviews published in the Cochrane Database of systematic reviews were empty reviews. Time since original publication of empty reviews ranged from 0 to 15 years with a mean of 4.2 years (SD = 3.4). Time since last assessed as up-to-date ranged from 0 to 12 years with a mean of 2.8 years (SD = 2.2). The number of excluded studies reported in these reviews ranged from 0 to 124. 23.4% of empty reviews reported no excluded studies, studies awaiting assessment, or on-going studies |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 376 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 4320 |
| Treatment impacted | No |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | Not Applicable |
| Interpretation impacted description |