Optimal search strategies for retrieving systematic reviews from Medline: analytical survey.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To develop optimal search strategies in Medline for retrieving systematic reviews.

Design

Analytical survey.

Data sources

161 journals published in 2000 indexed in Medline.

Main outcome measures

The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of retrieval of systematic reviews of 4862 unique terms in 782,485 combinations of one to five terms were determined by comparison with a hand search of all articles (the criterion standard) in 161 journals published during 2000 (49,028 articles).

Results

Only 753 (1.5%) of the 49,028 articles were systematic reviews. The most sensitive strategy included five terms and had a sensitivity of 99.9% (95% confidence interval 99.6% to 100%) and a specificity of 52% (51.6% to 52.5%). The strategy that best minimised

SUBMITTER: Montori VM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC543864 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature