BMJ  2005;330:68 (8 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.38336.804167.47 (published 24 December 2004)

Paper

Optimal search strategies for retrieving systematic reviews from Medline: analytical survey

Victor M Montori, assistant professor1, Nancy L Wilczynski, doctoral student2, Douglas Morgan, data analyst2, R Brian Haynes, professor2, for the Hedges Team

1 Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN 55905, USA, 2 Health Information Research Unit, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8N 3J5

Correspondence to: R B Haynes, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Room 2C10B Health Sciences Center, McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8N 3J5 bhaynes{at}mcmaster.ca

Objective: To develop optimal search strategies in Medline for retrieving systematic reviews.

Design: Analytical survey.

Data sources: 161 journals published in 2000 indexed in Medline.

Main outcome measures: The sensitivity, specificity, and precision of retrieval of systematic reviews of 4862 unique terms in 782 485 combinations of one to five terms were determined by comparison with a hand search of all articles (the criterion standard) in 161 journals published during 2000 (49 028 articles).

Results: Only 753 (1.5%) of the 49 028 articles were systematic reviews. The most sensitive strategy included five terms and had a sensitivity of 99.9% (95% confidence interval 99.6% to 100%) and a specificity of 52% (51.6% to 52.5%). The strategy that best minimised the difference between sensitivity and specificity had a sensitivity of 98% (97% to 99%) and specificity of 90.8% (90.5% to 91.1%). Highest precision for multiterm strategies, 57% (54% to 60%), was achieved at a sensitivity of 71% (68% to 74%). The term "cochrane database of systematic reviews.jn." was the most precise single term search strategy (sensitivity of 56% (52% to 60%) and precision of 96% (94% to 98%)). These strategies are available through the "limit" screen of Ovid's search interface for Medline.

Conclusions: Systematic reviews can be retrieved from Medline with close to perfect sensitivity or specificity, or with high precision, by using empirical search strategies.


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