LibraryGuides: Systematic and Scoping Reviews: Designing and Conducting Searches

Searching Systematically

A clear methodology for finding studies is an essential element of a systematic review. Your approach needs to be well documented (transparent) and as replicable as possible. This is the stage of a systematic review where consultation with a librarian is valuable. We have extensive experience with the databases most often used in reviews. We know what they cover (and miss) and how they vary. Through conversation and exploratory searching, librarians can help you find the right balance between search sensitivity and specificity, and they can assist in finalizing a valid search protocol.

Developing Your Search Strategy

Searching is an iterative process, and you will already have done some exploratory searching before you get to this point in the review process. During protocol development, you will have identified relevant databases, search terms, and studies. This will help you build your systematic search strategy that you will report in your methods section. (The more detailed and transparent you are about this process, the better, so it helps to keep track).

Don't forget, your librarians are here to help!

Health Sciences Databases

CINAHL Complete
Provides comprehensive coverage of the journal literature (over 650 journals) related to nursing and the allied health disciplines, from 1982 to the present.
Cochrane Library
A collection of evidence-based clinical information for healthcare providers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews includes systemic reviews, protocols, editorials, and supplements. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials is a directory of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials found in scholarly literature. Cochrane Clinical Answers includes clinical questions, a short answer, and data drawn from reviews that allow clinicians to quickly obtain evidence-based information to use in point-of-care decision-making.
APA PsycInfo
Search articles from more than 1,300 periodicals, as well as technical reports, dissertations, and other materials, in psychology and related fields, plus books, book chapters, and dissertations (1887-present). Includes a thesaurus feature to suggest productive search terms to guide users to relevant results.
MEDLINE Complete
An authoritative index of biomedical and health journals used by health care professionals, nurses, clinicians and researchers engaged in clinical care, public health and health policy development. It also provides the full text of over 2,500 of the journals in the database.
PubMed.gov
Indexes biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. From off campus, enter PubMed via the library website for Creighton linkouts.
Scopus
An abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources, including journals, conference proceedings, trade publications, abstracts, and patent records from the humanities, sciences and social sciences. Allows users to locate the most highly cited items and the articles that cite them.

Other Databases to Consider

Academic Search Premier
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 3,100 journals, including active full text for nearly 2,750 peer-reviewed journals.
Business Source Complete
A database of citations to, summaries of, and full text of articles from academic journals, magazines, and trade publications about business-related topics--dating back to 1886. Also included are current company, industry and region reports.
ERIC
Includes journal articles and documents in the field of education (pre-1966 to present).
Google Scholar
A simple way to search scholarly materials on the open web. To view links directly to CU Libraries' resources when searching Google Scholar, be sure to make us your library. You can do this by navigating to the menu at the top left > Settings > Library links > add Creighton University.
SPORTDiscus
A database covering sports and sports medicine journals. Subjects covered include biomechanics, drugs, exercise, kinesiology, movement science, nutrition, occupational health and therapy, physical fitness, physical therapy, rehabilitation, sports and exercise psychology, coaching and education and sports medicine.
Limit of 4 concurrent users

Supplementary Searching

Finding sources relevant to your question should not depend solely on database searching. Supplementary search methods are recommended in order to mitigate publication bias (the practice of publishing studies with positive effects and rejecting studies with zero or negative effects). Adding this step to your methodology also ensures that you've taken steps to go beyond the formal structure of databases, including the inclusion decisions made by their publishers.

Where Else to Search

References
Review works cited lists from similar reviews and from the articles that have met your eligibility criteria.

Cited Papers
Use Google Scholar or Web of Science to review sources that have cited the articles included in your study.

Hand Search Specific Journals
Manually browse through journals that often publish studies of interest to your review. Check journal coverage in your chosen databases to see what years might not be included in your systematic search and then hand search those issues for relevant articles. (Do not be afraid; this would usually be with electronic journal issues.)

Clinical Trials
Not all clinical trials end in publications. Clinical Trial Registries help you locate otherwise unpublished or incomplete trials.

ClinicalTrials.gov
ClinicalTrials.gov is a database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies conducted around the world. It is a resource provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials is a highly concentrated source of reports of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials.

Dissertations & Theses

Networked Digital Library of Dissertations & Theses (NDLT)
DART Europe
WorldCat.org - Choose Thesis/dissertation under the "Content" limit
Institutional Repositories - Find the dissertation repositories for universities known for conducting research related to your review topic.

Reports and conference papers
Look for conference proceedings from relevant conferences and associations. Scan publication lists from related research centers and institutes.

Gray Literature
Though Google and Google Scholar searches will not be part of your systematic methods, Google can be used to find publications from organizations, centers and institutes of interest. Google Scholar may help turn up additional gray literature (see Document Types in Grey Literature) and some journal articles that may have been missed in the systematic search.

Google Scholar
Google Scholar is also a valuable tool for finding articles that are too new or otherwise not indexed in your chosen databases. Use a more simplified version of your search strategy and comb the first few pages of results. You can also do a search that limits results to the last two years so that you can make sure you've captured the latest publications.

Contact Experts
Reach out to scholars that do research on your topic and solicit publications or data that may not have been formally published.