The prevalence of and factors associated with inclusion of non-English language studies in Campbell systematic reviews: a survey and meta-epidemiological study

Ref ID 702
First Author L. Neimann Rasmussen
Journal SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
Year Of Publishing 2018
URL https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13643-018-0786-6
Keywords • Campbell
• Author
• Psychology
• Policy
• Social care
• Equity
• Language
Problem(s) • Language restriction
• Failure to consider equity, different socioeconomic groups or disadvantaged populations
Article Type Empirical
Article Subtype Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review
First Author Country Denmark
Aim To assess the inclusion of studies published in languages other than English as well as factors which might predict the inclusion of non- English studies in Campbell systematic reviews in the social sciences up to July 2016.
Level of Investigation Analytical
Summary of Findings 87% of included 123 systematic reviews did not exclude non-English studies a priori and of these, only 15% included non-English language studies. One factor that significantly correlated with the number of included non-English studies across all models was the number of countries in which the members of the review team work. There was a dominance of researchers from English-speaking countries (52.9%) and review teams consisting only of team members from these countries (65.9%). The most frequently mentioned challenge to including non-English studies was a lack of resources (funding and time) followed by a lack of language resources (e.g. professional translators).
Number of systematic reviews included 123
Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed 123
Treatment impacted No
Treatment impacted description
Interpretation impacted Not Applicable
Interpretation impacted description