MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane index most primary studies but not abstracts included in orthopedic meta-analyses
Abstract
Objective To test the hypothesis that all primary studies used in orthopedic meta-analyses are indexed in MEDLINE or EMBASE.Study design and setting Using MEDLINE from 1995 to 2005, we retrieved all published meta-analyses of orthopedic surgical interventions. The primary studies in each meta-analysis were defined as the "gold standard" set. MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for each primary study, and a recall rate was calculated. Secondary searches were performed using Web of Science (WoS), the Cochrane databases, and CINAHL.Results High recall rates were achieved searching MEDLINE (90%) and EMBASE (81%) for the gold standard set, and the combined search retrieved 91%. Titles not indexed by MEDLINE or EMBASE included 45 abstracts, eight journal articles, and three unpublished studies. Searching the Cochrane databases yielded 36 titles not in MEDLINE or EMBASE. Using all three databases produced 97% recall of the primary studies; WoS and CINAHL did not increase the recall rate.Conclusions These results suggest that a very high percentage of primary research in orthopedics can be found using the major databases. Additional database searches are unlikely to increase the yield of published manuscripts; however, conference proceedings and journal supplements should still be searched to ensure that relevant remaining reports are identified.
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The literature on database coverage generally concludes that searching PubMed may not be sufficient and that other databases can contribute relevant publications.
“The literature on database coverage generally concludes that searching PubMed may not be sufficient and that other databases can contribute with relevant publications (6,(27)(28)(29).”
From PubMed coverage varied across specialties and over time: a large-scale study of included studies in Cochrane reviews (2019) · cites this paper as [28]
The databases screened (PubMed, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane Library) likely captured almost all manuscripts of interest for this review.
“Considering the topic of our review, almost all manuscripts of interest should be found therein73–75.”
From Dose-response-relationship of stabilisation exercises in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: a systematic review with meta-regression (2020) · cites this paper as [74]
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- Authors
- Slobogean, G. P., Verma, A., Giustini, D., Slobogean, B. L., & Mulpuri, K.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Slobogean, Gerard P.
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-12
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1261-1267
- ISSN
- 0895-4356 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2070452757
- Cited by
- 62
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Keywords
- MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, primary research, literature searching, journal supplements, unpublished research
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Review Literature as Topic, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Bibliometrics, Databases, Bibliographic, MEDLINE, Information Storage and Retrieval, Orthopedic Procedures
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