Why full search strategies matter — lessons from a recent Letter to the Editor

Why full search strategies matter — lessons from a recent Letter to the Editor

A recent letter to the editor published in Revista Española de Enfermedades Digestivas draws attention to an important omission in a systematic review: the lack of a full search strategy. González Aroca J . Literature searches report in systematic reviews. Rev Esp Enferm Dig. 2025;117:618-619.doi: 10.17235/reed.2024.10848/2024. PMID: 39446109. The letter praises the authors for their overall work, but underscores that without the exact search strings, databases, dates, and filters used in the review, the study cannot be properly reproduced or updated in the future. The systematic review in question is: Tian Z et al. Immunogenicity and risk factors for poor humoral…
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Abstrackr: Streamline Your Systematic Reviews

Abstrackr: Streamline Your Systematic Reviews

Conducting systematic reviews can be a daunting task, especially when faced with thousands of citations. Abstrackr, developed by Brown University's Center for Evidence Synthesis in Health, offers a free, open-source solution to simplify this process. Designed to semi-automate the citation screening phase, Abstrackr leverages machine learning to predict the relevance of studies based on titles and abstracts, significantly reducing the manual workload. Key Features of Abstrackr AI-Powered Recommendations: Utilize machine learning algorithms to identify and prioritize relevant citations, allowing researchers to focus on the most pertinent studies. Collaborative Screening: Invite team members to participate in the screening process, facilitating efficient…
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How to Peer Review Search Strategies

How to Peer Review Search Strategies

I recently did a short course on "How to Peer Review Search Strategies". This was offered by INSTATS - an organization that offers several excellent research related courses. What is Peer reviewing of search strategies? In India, we have a lacuna of knowledge about search strategies and the need for them to be structured. Most often very little thought is given to the strategy and it is done in an ad-hoc manner. Peer reviewing is something no one even thinks about.. The six hour session over two evenings - run by two expert Information Professionals - Carol Lefebvre - and…
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