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Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews, and Health Technology Assessments - Searching the Literature

Subject Librarian

Lisa Tjosvold's picture
Lisa Tjosvold
Contact:
​2K4.14 WC Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB Canada
T6G 2R7
(780) 248-2025

Health Sciences Librarian

Sandy Campbell's picture
Sandy Campbell
Contact:
John W. Scott Health Sciences Library
2K3.26 Walter C. Mackenzie Health Sciences Centre
780 492-7915
Skype Contact: campbelledmonton

This guide focuses on the searching process for systematic and scoping reviews and Health Technology Assessments (HTAs).  For guidance regarding preparation of a review, visit the Preparing for a Comprehensive Literature Review guide.

Searching Process

The process of searching for studies to include in a Systematic Review, Scoping Review, or Health Technology Assessments (HTAs) may include:

  1. Checking previously published Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews, and HTAs to determine if your question has already been answered.
  2. Conduct searches for primary studies in multiple bibliographic databases (e.g. Medline, CINAHL and Scopus). 
  3. Scan reference lists of relevant articles, including articles selected for the review, as well as relevant review articles.
  4. Check who has cited relevant articles using tools such as Google Scholar, Scopus, or Web of Science.
  5. Depending on your topic, you will need to search the Grey Literature such as
    • Clinical trial registries
    • Meeting abstracts and conference proceedings
    • Clinical Practice Guidelines
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • Government Documents
    • Institute / Association Websites (e.g. Institute of Health Economics, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Conference Board of Canada) 
  6. Contact, if necessary 
    • Authors of Relevant Articles and Reviews
    • Principle investigators of ongoing studies
    • Pharmaceutical Companies
  7. Web search engines such as Google 

Tools