It is highly recommend that you collaborate with a librarian on developing your search strategy. Librarians are experts on identifying appropriate databases, developing comprehensive search strategies, writing the search methodology, and providing documentation for the line-by-line search strategies for use in the manuscript appendices.
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine: Standards for Systematic Reviews Standard 2.1.3, the review team should "include expertise in searching for relevant evidence".
The most common databases used for systematic reviews include: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, SCOPUS, CINAHL, SciFinder, and PsycINFO.
Grey Literature must also be searched. Grey Literature is defined as materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. This would include publications such as conference proceedings, technical reports, theses, dissertations, and government documents.
Below is a list of the most commonly used databases. We also recommend that you consult your discipline's research guide and consult your librarian for database suggestions.
PubMed: Clinical biomedicine database
Cochrane Library: Systematic review database
PsycINFO: Psychology and behavioral sciences database
Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Complete: Nursing & allied health database
ProQuest Healthcare Administration Database: Health administration database
(Not available at USC SOM). Covers topics such as hospitals, insurance, law, statistics, business management, personnel management, ethics, health economics, and public health administration.
Embase: A comprehensive database of biomedical research and literature.
SciFinder: Engineering, materials, biochemistry, synthesis & reactions, journal articles, patents, dissertations, chemical sources.
Scopus: (Not available at USC SOM) Citation data, journal impact metrics, and journal indexing. Includes all of MEDLINE and Embase.
Web of Science: Includes Science Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, and Journal Citation Reports.
Government documents. Divided into various searches. Each search includes Portfolio/Program, Priority Population and indication of whether it is a Recovery Act project.
Collection of "scholarly" materials
A quarterly list of gray literature documents in the field of public health.
A tool for finding grey literature provided by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH).
Custom Google search that searches International Health Technology websites compiled by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and technologies in Health.
Government documents. Repository of intramural and extramural NIH-funded research projects. Access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding. In addition to NIH-funded research, the system provides access to research supported by the CDC, AHRQ, HRSA, SAMHSA and the VA.
Searches for systematic reviews aim to be as extensive as possible in order to ensure that as many as possible of the necessary and relevant studies are included in the review. It is, however, necessary to strike a balance between striving for comprehensiveness and maintaining relevance when developing a search strategy. Increasing the comprehensiveness (or sensitivity) of a search will reduce its precision and will retrieve more non-relevant articles.
Searches should seek high sensitivity, which may result in relatively low precision.
More info: Higgins JPT, Green S (editors). Sensitivity versus precision (section 6.4.4) Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]. The Cochrane Collaboration. Available from http://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org. Accessed June 1, 2018.
PRISMA Searching Checklist
The PRISMA Searching Checklist is the minimum set of items for reporting search details. The checklist includes 16 reporting items, each of which is detailed with exemplar reporting and rationale.
Documenting search details is a critical step in the systematic review process. If you collaborate with a librarian on your systematic review, the librarian will document all search details.
The following search details should be documented:
Documenting the search will ensure that we:
