Cochrane for Librarians:

An update on searching and specialised registers

Doug Salzwedel MLISTrials Search Coordinator

Cochrane Hypertension Review GroupDepartment of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics

University of British Columbia

hypertension.cochrane.org

A non-traditional career path?

•MLIS from Western Ontario in 2001•8 month co-op at the Ottawa Hospital library•2 yrs Info Management Division, Treasury Board Secretariat•2 yrs information specialist on research team at U of Ottawa •2 yrs Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group•5 yrs Cochrane Hypertension Group

What do librarians do in Cochrane?

• Manage the Review Group’s Specialised Register• Develop and run searches of core databases for authors• Provide advice to authors on additional aspects of review searching• Work with editorial team to publish systematic reviews

Additional roles in Cochrane

• Provide user support for Cochrane Register of Studies software (secondment)

• Serve on Cochrane-wide executive (TSC Executive)• Website and social media management • Metrics tracking for our reviews via Altmetric • Provide support to other Cochrane TSCs*

*Fingers crossed for a successful application…

TSCs and review searching

• TSC contacts authors when title registered

• Services vary depending on local circumstances, but TSC may:• help author plan her search• design or comment on search strategies • run searches for the author and send the results• give advice about searching other sources• give advice about managing references• draft or comment on the search methods in the Review

Searching – Hypertension Group

After scope of review has been agreed, I…

•May ask authors to provide exemplar articles to test strategy•Draft MEDLINE strategy, send to authors for comment•Revise as necessary & add to Appendix of Protocol•Finalize search methods section of Protocol•Provide advice to authors on supplemental searching•Translate initial strategy to other databases•Upon publication of protocol, search core databases, export results•Save results and provide deduplicated references to authors•Provide advice on reference screening and management as needed

Sources to search: overview

• bibliographic databases• likely to identify most of the included studies• Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

(CENTRAL)• MEDLINE• Embase• Cochrane Specialised Registers• add others if appropriate

• other sources• journals and other databases• unpublished and ongoing studies

start here

work down

Structure of a search strategy

• based on your eligibility criteria• start with the 2 or 3 most important concepts• focus on those most likely to be found in title & abstract

Managing search results

Store results from each source

• download all available fields for each record• use bibliographic or reference management software

e.g. EndNote, Mendeley, RefWorks, Zotero•TSCs can help with configuration files and import filters

additional fields can be used for notes, e.g. source, assessment, study design

•Collate and de-duplicate

Documenting the search

• Document everything• to report transparently what you’ve done in your review• to reproduce or update in future

• You need to document • what (database and interface)• when (date of search, date limits)• how (copy and paste exact strategies, limits, set numbers)

• Keep copies of everything• save results and strategies locally • don’t rely on bookmarks or saved searches

Reporting the search

• For the protocol• Methods – describe your planned sources and limits• include at least one detailed (line by line) sample search

strategy (e.g. MEDLINE)• For the review• Dates – date of search• Abstract – sources, dates, limits• Methods – detailed description of sources, dates, limits• Results – number of results found• Figures– PRISMA flowchart• Appendix – all detailed (line by line) search strategies

Example of search reporting

Updating the search

• writing a review can take some time

• may need to update your search before completing the review• rerun search if more than 12 months old• screen for eligible studies and, if feasible, incorporate results

• a well-documented search will make this easier

• check for changes to databases and terms before searching

Cochrane Register of Studies (CRS)

• The CRS software application is designed for the development and maintenance of Specialised Registers (SRs) by Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs)

• A Trials Search Coordinator (TSC), usually someone with a background in library and information science, manages most SRs.

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Specialised Registers (SRs)

• Each of the more than 50 Cochrane Review Groups maintains a register that feeds into CENTRAL via the CRS

• A Trials Search Coordinator (TSC), usually someone with a background in library and information science, manages most SRs

Hypertension Group SR

• Contains reports of more than 25,000 controlled trials

• MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, Embase updated & screened weekly

• New reports added to CENTRAL weekly

• Additional databases searched less frequently

• Study designs coded

• References linked to original study (in progress)

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Getting involved in Cochrane as a librarian…

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irmg.cochrane.org

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www.metaxis.com/embase/

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ccnc.cochrane.org

Acknowledgements

Based in part on materials by the UK Cochrane Centre, Australasian Cochrane Centre, Cochrane Information Retrieval Methods Group, Canadian Cochrane Centre and Dutch Cochrane Centre