Developing the search
Developing a systematic review search is a case of trial and error, and it is rare to get it right first time. You are attempting to retrieve as many 'on topic' papers as possible whilst also excluding as many irrelevant papers as possible.
The most important step at this point is to correctly identify the correct search concepts. It is also good practice to use a set of relevant papers for term selection and testing the search.
For a more detailed look at constructing a systematic search take a look at our introduction to systematic searching modules
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Establishing concepts
Considerations:
Concepts can be confusing to follow, it is easy to focus too closely on individual terms.
Try using a venn diagram or logic grid to represent each concept. Each paper that is retrieved needs to contain a term from each circle/column.
As a general rule the Outcome concept is not included in the search
Read the Cochrane Handbook chapter on structuring a search strategy
Take a look at PubVenn
Paste the abstracts from your relevant papers into Voyant and check out the links section
Finding terms
Considerations:
Be very wary about including very general terms that could bring up incorrect results, such as patient or health.
Try testing the search terms in a database. Restrict to title only and note the relevance to your topic.
You can use the NOT operator to separate these results from the rest.
Check for search strings in the appendices of existing reviews in the Cochrane Library
Carry out a PubMed search in PubReminer
Paste your relevant abstracts into Termine (then select table)
Constructing the search
Considerations:
Save the search in a database using a generic, shared user name and password. This means you can work collaboratively with the your librarian and your other team members throughout the construction of the search.
Ovid databases contain a search history link function, which is even easier.
Read the Cochrane Handbook chapter on the structure of a search strategy
Check out the video series on search construction from Yale University
Read this blog on using proximity searching
Check out the field guide from the University of California
Read some of these further resources on search methodologies
Testing the search
Considerations:
Testing the search is often neglected and yet super important. It is especially important to be sure you have retrieved all known and similar papers.
You can test the search using the test set of relevant papers.
When removing terms always check what papers are going to be 'lost'
Check that the relevant papers are retrieved by the search
Ask a medical librarian to peer review your search, or submit your search to PRESSforum
Check this video from Yale Uni