Research Guides: Systematic Reviews: Documenting the Search Process

Documenting the Search Process

Systematic review searches must be documented in sufficient detail to allow others to be able to assess the thoroughness of the search. You will need to keep track of:

Each database searched, together with the platform searched via (eg. OVID Medline, OVID PsycINFO, CSA Sociological Abstracts)
The date each search were conducted
Subject headings and keywords used – including whether terms were exploded, truncated, etc
Search history, including the combination of terms
Number of results retrieved for each search and combination
Total number of records
Duplicates identified
Numbers pre-screening and post-screening

In addition, all searches conducted via handsearching must identify the source (name of journal, conference proceedings, etc), plus the years.

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions by Julian P. Higgins (Editor); Sally Green (Editor)
ISBN: 1281939471
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
“The search process needs to be documented in enough detail throughout the process to ensure that it can be reported correctly in the review, to the extent that all the searches of all the databases are reproducible.”

PRISMA
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
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The PRISMA Statement consists of a 27-item checklist and a four-phase flow diagram (both are downloadable files). It is an evolving document that is subject to change periodically as new evidence emerges. In fact, the PRISMA Statement is an update and expansion of the now-out dated QUOROM Statement.

Examples of Complex Search Strategy