Increasing number of databases searched in systematic reviews and meta-analyses between 1994 and 2014

Authors

  • Michael T. Lam BMSc(C), Undergraduate Student, Bachelor of Medical Science Program, Elgin Hall, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 4K7
  • Mary McDiarmid MISt, Library, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, 700 Gordon Street, Whitby, ON L1N 5S9

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2016.141

Keywords:

Review, MEDLINE, Databases as Topic, Database, Bibliographic, Evidence-based Medicine

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the number of bibliographic databases used to search the health sciences literature in individual systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) changed over a twenty-year period related to the official 1995 launch of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

Methods: Ovid MEDLINE was searched using a modified version of a strategy developed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network to identify SRs and MAs. Records from 3 milestone years were searched: the year immediately preceding (1994) and 1 (2004) and 2 (2014) decades following the CDSR launch. Records were sorted with randomization software. Abstracts or full texts of the records were examined to identify database usage until 100 relevant records were identified from each of the 3 years.

Results: The mean and median number of bibliographic databases searched in 1994, 2004, and 2014 were 1.62 and 1, 3.34 and 3, and 3.73 and 4, respectively. Studies that searched only 1 database decreased over the 3 milestone years (60% in 1994, 28% in 2004, and 10% in 2014).

Conclusions: The number of bibliographic databases searched in individual SRs and MAs increased from 1994 to 2014.

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Published

2017-01-05

Issue

Vol. 104 No. 4 (2016): October 2016

Section

Surveys and Studies