Research questions for systematic reviews must be unambiguous from protocol stage

doi:10.1136/bmj.319.7219.1265a

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ comment articles:

From

Limit by

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

Gunther Eysenbach, researcher (ey@yi.com)

University of Heidelberg, Department of Clinical Social Medicine, Unit for Cybermedicine, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany

EDITOR—The systematic review of Walton et al aimed to “identify all comparative studies in which computers were used to help determine the most appropriate drug dose,”1 including studies in which participants are “patients receiving drug therapy based on advice from a computer.”2 According to this protocol, the authors clearly should have included studies in which advice is given direct to patients, nurses, or intermediates, such as in software applications for diabetes management.3 Such studies, however, were …