Abstract
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to:
O Use health and social sciences online search resources for retrieving citations to answer systematic review (SR) questions
O Define point-of-care resources and identify their role in researching practice-based questions
O Define grey literature and explore its role in SR research
O Use various search techniques such as citation chasing and hand searching
CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS
O A librarian should be a part of the SR team's plans; reviewers should consult and/or collaborate (e.g., librarians as co-reviewers of an SR) with research librarians or information science professionals who are trained in search work for SR research.
O Searches to support SR construction are iterative, often performed more than once in several search resources to gain as much relevant literature as possible to answer foreground questions. Searches supporting foreground question research are systematic, as one or two best search strategies, master searches, are repeated throughout all relevant databases, and search resources for the review topic. One should keep in mind that depending on the features of a search resource and/or search retrieval system, slight variations in the master search strategies may be needed.
O Searches to support SR construction are comprehensive, making use of natural language terms (e.g., text words/phrases) and a database's controlled vocabulary terminology (e.g., subject headings), allowing researchers a chance for retrieving more citations for appraisal, and forming conclusions related to foreground questions.
O Preliminary searches in filtered search resources can assist reviewers in revising, expanding, and tailoring foreground questions.
O Pearl-growing and preliminary searches allow reviewers a chance to figure out which text words from a diagrammed research question and which database-controlled vocabulary terms (e.g., subject headings) best represent and allow for best retrieval of citations on a topic.
O Although it is advisable to use personal accounts provided by each database’s search retrieval system (e.g., EBSCOhost personal account, Ovid personal account) to save search strategies, all literature searches, natural language terms, and vocabulary or database index terms used in searches should be documented on paper or in a computer document for use at a
later time by the SR team or by other researchers who wish to duplicate, revise, or add to the body of research on a review topic.
O Setting up search alerts in searched databases, as available, can facilitate retrieval and appraisal of the latest research that is relevant to an ongoing SR research. Use of search alerts contributes to keeping an SR as up to date as possible before publication.
O All significant results from literature searches should be collected and organized by using a bibliographic citation management tool; examples include EndNote (Thomson Reuters), Mendeley (Elsevier B.V.), or RefWorks (ProQuest).