Continuing education for systematic reviews: a prospective longitudinal assessment of a workshop for librarians

Peer review of searches for studies for health technology assessments, systematic reviews, and other evidence syntheses

INTRODUCTION

Peer review of searches is a process whereby both the search strategies and the search process description are reviewed, ideally using an evidence-based checklist.

RATIONALE

As the search strategy underpins any well-conducted evidence synthesis, its quality could affect the final result. Evidence shows, however, that search strategies are prone to error.

FINDINGS

There is increasing awareness and use of the PRESS Evidence-Based Checklist and peer review of search strategies, at the outset of evidence syntheses, prior to the searches being run, and this is now recommended by a number of evidence synthesis organizations.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

Searches for evidence syntheses should be peer reviewed by a suitably qualified and experienced librarian or information specialist after being designed, ideally, by another suitably qualified and experienced librarian or information specialist. Peer review of searches should take place at two important stages in the evidence synthesis process; at the outset of the project prior to the searches being run and at the prepublication stage. There is little empirical evidence, however, to support the effectiveness of peer review of searches. Further research is required to assess this. Those wishing to stay up to date with the latest developments in information retrieval, including peer review of searches, should consult the SuRe Info resource (http://www.sure-info.org), which seeks to help information specialists and others by providing easy access to the findings from current information retrieval methods research and thus support more research-based information retrieval practice.

Adoption of peer review of literature search strategies in knowledge synthesis from 2009 to 2018: An overview

BACKGROUND

Knowledge synthesis (KS) reviews rely on good quality literature searches to capture a complete set of relevant studies, and peer review of the search strategy is one quality control mechanism that contributes to better quality reviews. Guidelines for peer review of electronic search strategies (PRESS) have been available since 2008.

OBJECTIVES

This overview provides a snapshot of KS indexed in Scopus, published between 2009 and 2018, that reported peer review of the literature search strategy.

METHODS

Articles were identified through citation chasing for PRESS guidance documents and supplementary keyword searches. The characteristics of individual articles and the journals that published them were documented, and descriptive statistics were compiled.

RESULTS

415 articles from 169 journals met inclusion criteria. Approximately half were published in 14 journal titles. Most reviews reported the involvement of an information professional, but PRESS reviewers were rarely acknowledged. An overwhelming majority of review teams were based in Canada.

DISCUSSION

Reported use of PRESS was low during the period examined, but under-reporting may be a factor. Investigation of the barriers and facilitators of PRESS adoption is needed.

CONCLUSION

Despite its value, adoption of PRESS appears low. Advocacy for, and education about, PRESS may be required.

Embedded librarians as research partners in South Korea

Recently, many articles co-authored by librarians have been published in non-library and information science journals. This may indicate that embedded librarians are actively working as research partners in various fields. However, studies have rarely discussed the roles and experience of embedded librarians and, unlike the USA and European countries, the activities of embedded librarians in Korea are not well reported. This study collected and analysed co-authored articles from Korean faculty and librarians. In addition to identifying the role of the embedded librarian by analysing the author-contributions texts of the articles, the study examined the backgrounds of librarians and the difficulties of collaborating through interviews with librarian authors. The results of the analyses show that the number of collaborative articles by faculty and embedded librarians increased over the years and, of these, almost 70% were medical publications. The roles of the librarians outlined in the author-contributions texts were as reported in previous studies but, in many cases, their role was more significant than traditional liaison work, such as reporting the study’s methodology or approving the final draft. In the interviews, the embedded librarians expressed that they had experienced some difficulties, such as lack of time, insufficient guidelines and an inadequate curriculum in their library and information science department. For librarians to be recognized as research partners, they need to communicate well with team members and have knowledge, skills and abilities related to the research. Further, to achieve this collaboration, the curriculum of departments should be reformed. If such efforts are made, it is expected that embedded librarians will continue to excel in their role as liaison librarians, which has contributed to supporting research projects.