Searching for studies

Cochrane Handbook, Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies

Technical Supplement to Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies

Search strategy formulation

A framework for learning [Part 1] [Part 2]
Healthcare information professionals perform systematic literature reviews to gather the evidence needed to answer specific research questions and formulate policy. In this paper a structured methodology is introduced and a framework for learning, which together aim to embody best practices from the community and provide support for many of the common issues in search strategy development.

Shall we search all trial registers? A comparison study of the sensitivity of five trial registers used by the Cochrane Skin Group
Ching-Chi Chi, Editor, Cochrane Skin Group
A comparison of the sensitivity of the metaRegister of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, the World Health   Organization International Clinical Trials Registry, the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, and the EU Clinical Trials Register.

Cochrane Crowd

The purpose of Cochrane Crowd is to identify reports of RCTs and quasi-RCTs from Embase and other databases for publication in CENTRAL and the Cochrane Register of Studies.

Handsearching

Handsearching - CIS Handbook

Handsearching materials - TSC Support Team Digest #3 (August 2015)

Training manual for handsearchers - was published in 2002, to provide training for those planning on handsearching to identify randomized and quasi-randomized trials.  It is still considered to be useful for those learning how to classify journal articles and abstracts to identify studies for inclusion in reviews or for inclusion in CENTRAL.

Last update: Dec 2021