Whether an element is more specific or more general can be measured objectively by the number of hits retrieved in a database when searching for a key term representing that element. Using the schema in Figure 1, elements can be ordered by their specificity and importance to determine the best search approach. Therefore, the number of elements in a search strategy should remain as low as possible to optimize recall. Adding an element to a search strategy increases the chance of missing relevant references. Some elements are less important than others or may unnecessarily complicate or restrict a search strategy. Not all elements of a research question should necessarily be used in the search strategy. Decide which elements should be used for the best results Experienced searchers will gain the most from reading about the novelties in the method as described in steps 10–13 and comparing the examples given in the supplementary appendix to their own practice.Ĥ. More experienced searchers can consider the basic steps to be existing knowledge that will already be part of their normal workflow, although step 4 probably differs from general practice. Readers who are new to SR searching are advised to follow all steps described. Īs we aimed to describe the creation of systematic searches in full detail, the method starts at a basic level with the analysis of the research question and the creation of search terms. The efficiency of the search method and outcome of 73 searches that have resulted in published reviews are described in a separate article. In this article, we describe the method developed at Erasmus University Medical Center (MC) and demonstrate its use through an example search. The authors wanted to develop systematic and exhaustive search strategies more efficiently, while preserving the high sensitivity that SR search strategies necessitate. Traditional methods of SR search strategy development and execution are highly time consuming, reportedly requiring up to 100 hours or more. Although several recommendations for the process of searching have been published, none describe the development of a systematic search strategy from start to finish. Librarians and information specialists are often involved in the process of preparing and completing systematic reviews (SRs), where one of their main tasks is to identify relevant references to include in the review. The described method can be used to create complex and comprehensive search strategies for different databases and interfaces, such as those that are needed when searching for relevant references for systematic reviews, and will assist both information specialists and practitioners when they are searching the biomedical literature. This method helps information specialists in developing librarian-mediated searches for systematic reviews as well as medical and health care practitioners who are searching for evidence to answer clinical questions. Macros in Microsoft Word have been developed to convert syntaxes between databases and interfaces almost automatically. To help ensure term completeness, we developed a novel optimization technique that is mainly based on comparing the results retrieved by thesaurus terms with those retrieved by the free-text search words to identify potentially relevant candidate search terms. This method describes how single-line search strategies can be prepared in a text document by typing search syntax (such as field codes, parentheses, and Boolean operators) before copying and pasting search terms (keywords and free-text synonyms) that are found in the thesaurus. The authors have established a method that describes step by step the process of developing a systematic search strategy as needed in the systematic review. Several methods describe standards for systematic search strategies, but a consistent approach for creating an exhaustive search strategy has not yet been fully described in enough detail to be fully replicable. Creating search strategies for systematic reviews, finding the best balance between sensitivity and specificity, and translating search strategies between databases is challenging.
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