Exeter HS&DR Evidence Synthesis Centre, Institute of Health Research, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK.
Res Synth Methods. 2018 Mar;9(1):89-99. doi: 10.1002/jrsm.1275. Epub 2017 Nov 9.
The literature searches that are used to identify studies for inclusion in a systematic review should be comprehensively reported. This ensures that the literature searches are transparent and reproducible, which is important for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a systematic review and re-running the literature searches when conducting an update review. Web searching using search engines and the websites of topically relevant organisations is sometimes used as a supplementary literature search method. Previous research has shown that the reporting of web searching in systematic reviews often lacks important details and is thus not transparent or reproducible. Useful details to report about web searching include the name of the search engine or website, the URL, the date searched, the search strategy, and the number of results. This study reviews the reporting of web searching to identify studies for Cochrane systematic reviews published in the 6-month period August 2016 to January 2017 (n = 423). Of these reviews, 61 reviews reported using web searching using a search engine or website as a literature search method. In the majority of reviews, the reporting of web searching was found to lack essential detail for ensuring transparency and reproducibility, such as the search terms. Recommendations are made on how to improve the reporting of web searching in Cochrane systematic reviews.
用于确定系统评价纳入研究的文献检索应全面报告。这可确保文献检索具有透明性和可重复性，这对于评估系统评价的优缺点以及在进行更新评价时重新运行文献检索非常重要。使用搜索引擎和相关主题组织的网站进行网络搜索有时也用作补充文献检索方法。先前的研究表明，系统评价中网络搜索的报告通常缺乏重要细节，因此不具有透明性或可重复性。关于网络搜索，需要报告的有用细节包括搜索引擎或网站的名称、URL、搜索日期、搜索策略和检索结果数量。本研究回顾了为 Cochrane 系统评价（2016 年 8 月至 2017 年 1 月期间出版，n=423）确定研究的网络搜索报告，以确定其报告情况。在这些综述中，有 61 篇综述报告了使用搜索引擎或网站进行网络搜索作为文献检索方法。在大多数综述中，网络搜索的报告缺乏确保透明性和可重复性的重要细节，例如搜索词。针对如何改进 Cochrane 系统评价中网络搜索的报告提出了建议。
