Reporting quality of search methods in systematic reviews of HIV behavioral interventions (2000–2010): are the searches clearly explained, systematic and reproducible?

Ref ID 622
First Author M. M. Mullins
Journal RESEARCH SYNTHESIS METHODS
Year Of Publishing 2014
URL https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/jrsm.1098?download=true
Keywords • Searching
• Language
• Reproducibility
• General medical
Problem(s) • Methods not described to enable replication
• Language restriction
• Literature searches not validated by information specialist
• Search strategy not provided
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country United States
Aim To assess the adequacy of search methods in systematic reviews of HIV behavioural interventions between 2000-2010, according to key search criteria from several guidelines
Level of Investigation Descriptive
Summary of Findings Six elements were found to be less well reported across systematic reviews: describing the interface used to search each database, the years included in the electronic search, a complete search strategy for at least one or more of the databases, the language limitations applied and consulting or including an experienced searcher
Number of systematic reviews included 102
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 1569
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description