Briscoe 2015

The web searching assessed was likely to have been only a peripheral part of an already supplemental search.

Appraisal of: "Briscoe S. Web searching for systematic reviews: a case study of reporting standards in the UK Health Technology Assessment programme. BMC Res Notes. 2015;8:153-."

Reviewer(s):

Dagmara Chojecki
Lisa Tjosvold

Full Reference:
Briscoe S. Web searching for systematic reviews: a case study of reporting standards in the UK Health Technology Assessment programme. BMC Res Notes. 2015;8:153-

Short description:

The aim of this paper was to assess the reporting of searching the web for systematic reviews conducted by the UK HTA programme by identifying and examining HTA reports from 2004-2013. The study makes recommendations about reporting this type of searching to ensure transparency and reproducibility. Findings indicate that in the majority of cases, only the names of web sites or search engines are listed. Recommendations are made for including the dates searched, URL, search terms and the search results.

Limitations stated by the author(s):

The web searching assessed was likely to have been only a peripheral part of an already supplemental search.

Limitations stated by the reviewer(s):

No additional limitations detected by the reviewers.

Study Type:

Review

Related Chapters:

Documenting and reporting the search process

Tags:

• Documenting

• Guidance document