Writing the�Search Methods Section
Methods Section Goals
“We searched the online databases SCOPUS, Web of Science, MEDLINE (PubMed) and Google Scholar for research published between January 2007 and August 2018. The combinations of the key words we used were the following: burnout, depression, anxiety. Additionally, we used MeSH terms with the term “burnout” being the major topic of the meta-analysis and our search was formed as follows: burnout/depression [majr] AND burnout/anxiety [majr]; burnout/depression [majr] OR burnout/anxiety [majr]. After we completed the electronic database search, a manual scoping of the cited studies by all articles found was also done in case some of them did not show up in our search.”
Source: The Relationship Between Burnout, Depression, and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00284)
Consider Your Audience
Who is likely to read the methods section?
You may need to explain things that seem obvious
Determine What To Include
Refer to guidance and standards
Page, M. J., Moher, D., & McKenzie, J. E. (2022). Introduction to PRISMA 2020 and implications for research synthesis methodologists. Research Synthesis Methods, 13(2), 156-163.
PRISMA 2020
Domínguez-Oliva, A., Mota-Rojas, D., Semendric, I., & Whittaker, A. L. (2023). The Impact of Vegan Diets on Indicators of Health in Dogs and Cats: A Systematic Review. Veterinary Sciences, 10(1), 52.
Warsaw, R. E., Jones, A., Rose, A. K., Newton-Fenner, A., Alshukri, S., & Gage, S. H. (2021). Mobile technology use and its association with executive functioning in healthy young adults: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 643542.
PRISMA 2020 Elements Related To Searching
“Information Sources” section (Item #6)
PRISMA Elements Related To Searching
“Search Strategy” section (Item #7)
PRISMA Elements Related To Searching
“Discussion” section (Items #23b and #23c)
PRISMA Elements Related To Searching
For useful examples, consult “Supplementary Table 1. PRISMA 2020 examples” (PDF)
PRISMA-S - Item #1
Database Name
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“The following electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE (Ovid), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), PsycINFO (Ovid), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Ovid), SPORTDiscus (EBSCOhost), EMBASE (Ovid) and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest).”
PRISMA-S - Item #1
Database Name
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
The following electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE ALL (Ovid), CINAHL Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost), APA PsycINFO (Ovid), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Ovid), SPORTDiscus with Full Text (EBSCOhost), EMBASE (Ovid) and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (ProQuest).
PRISMA-S - Item #2
Multi-Database Searching
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“The MEDLINE and Embase strategies were run simultaneously as a multi-file search in Ovid and the results de-duplicated using the Ovid de-duplication tool.”
PRISMA-S - Item #3
Study Registries
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“[We] searched several clinical trial registries (ClinicalTrials.gov, Current Controlled Trials (www.controlled-trials.com), Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (www.actr.org.au), and University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (www.umin.ac.jp/ctr)) to identify ongoing trials.”
PRISMA-S - Item #4
Online Resources and Browsing
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“To locate unpublished studies, we searched Embase [via Embase.com] for conference proceedings since 2000 and hand-searched meeting abstracts of the Canadian Conference on Physician Health and the International Conference on Physician Health (2012 to 2016).”
PRISMA-S - Item #5
Citation Searching
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“Reference lists of included articles were manually screened to identify additional studies.”
“We [conducted] citation tracking of included studies in Web of Science Core Collection on an ongoing basis, using citation alerts in Web of Science Core Collection.”
PRISMA-S - Item #6
Contacts
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“We contacted representatives from the manufacturers of erythropoietin-receptor agonists (Amgen, Ortho-Biotech, Roche), corresponding or first authors of all included trials and subject-area experts for information about ongoing studies.”
PRISMA-S - Item #7
Other Methods
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“PubMed’s related articles search was performed on all included articles.”
PRISMA-S - Item #8
Full Search Strategies
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“The reproducible searches for all databases are available�at DOI:10.7302/Z2VH5M1H.”
Include the search strategies for each database and information source, copied and pasted exactly as run.
PRISMA-S - Item #9
Limits and Restrictions
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“Excluded publication types were comments, editorials, patient education handouts, newspaper articles, biographies, autobiographies, and case reports. All languages were included in the search result; non-English results were removed during the review process…. To improve specificity, the updated search was limited to human participants.”
PRISMA-S - Item #10
Search Filters
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“For our MEDLINE search we added a highly sensitive filter for identifying randomised trials developed by the Cochrane Collaboration [38]. For Embase we used the filter for randomised trials proposed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network [104].”
PRISMA-S - Item #11
Prior Work
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“We included [search strategies] used in other systematic reviews for research design [111], setting [112, 113], physical activity and healthy eating [114,115,116], obesity [111], tobacco use prevention [117], and alcohol misuse [118].”
PRISMA-S - Item #12
Updates
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“Two consecutive searches were conducted and limited by publication type and by date, first from January 1, 1990, to November 30, 2012, and again from December 1, 2012, to July 31, 2015, in an updated search…. The original search strategy was used to model the updated search from December 1, 2012, to July 31, 2015.”
PRISMA-S - Item #13
Dates of Searches
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“A comprehensive literature search was initially run on 26 February 2017 and then rerun on 5 February 2018….”
PRISMA-S - Item #14
Peer Review
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“The strategies were peer reviewed by another senior information specialist prior to execution using the PRESS Checklist [1].”
PRISMA-S - Item #15
Total Records
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“A total of 3251 citations were retrieved from the six databases and four grey literature websites.”
PRISMA-S - Item #16
Deduplication
Source: PRISMA-S: An Extension To The PRISMA Statement For Reporting Literature Searches In Systematic Reviews (doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z)
“Duplicates were removed by the librarians (LP, PJE), using EndNote's duplicate identification strategy and then manually.”
No Clear Standard for Grey Literature
Alluded to in PRISMA-S Item #4 (online resources)
Explain what was consulted, why, how and when
Include additional information in an appendix
No Clear Standard on Librarians
None of the items in PRISMA-S focus on librarian involvement or on specifying who ran the searches
ACTIVITY
Return to the review you selected.
Access the PRISMA-S Checklist and assess whether your review includes points on the checklist.
What is the total score out of 16?
Does the review include a librarian as co-author or does the methods section make any claims as to librarian involvement?
Rethinking Search Narratives
To explain the why of your search strategy
The goal is to assist peer-reviewers (and readers) evaluating the search methodology of a review
Source: Revisiting The Need For A Literature Search Narrative: A Brief�Methodological Note (doi: 10.1002/jrsm.1315)
Contributing Beyond the Search Methods
Verifying other information in the methods section
Ensuring that results are accurate (eg PRISMA diagram results add up)
Reviewing limitations
Revising and commenting on the final manuscript
Providing a Detailed Appendix
Consider using a search summary table or list
Indicate the name, platform, coverage info, date searched, results found for each database
Include any information about search updates
Provide the exact search, as run (cut and paste), including any limits
Give credit to search filters or hedges, or other searches that informed yours
Include details about grey literature searching
The PRISMA Flow Diagram
Source: PRISMA templates
Producing a PRISMA Flow Diagram
Helpful Readings
Sarkis-Onofre, R., Catalá-López, F., Aromataris, E., & Lockwood, C. (2021). How to properly use the PRISMA Statement. Systematic Reviews, 10(1), 1-3.
Rethlefsen, M. L., & Page, M. J. (2022). PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S: common questions on tracking records and the flow diagram. Journal of the Medical Library Association: JMLA, 110(2), 253.
Final Thoughts
Negotiate with researchers
Use established guidance
Seek additional examples
Remember the goals of transparency and reproducibility
Questions?