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Effectiveness and efficiency of search methods in systematic reviews of complex evidence: audit of primary sources
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To describe where papers come from in a systematic review of complex evidence. Method Audit of how the 495 primary sources for the review were originally identified. RESULTS: Only 30% of sources were obtained from the protocol defined at the outset of the study (that is, from the database and hand searches). Fifty one per cent were identified by "snowballing" (such as pursuing references of references), and 24% by personal knowledge or personal contacts. CONCLUSION: Systematic reviews of complex evidence cannot rely solely on protocol-driven search strategies.
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“and snowballing is the best approach for identifying sources published in obscure journals according to their study.”
From Guidelines for snowballing in systematic literature studies and a replication in software engineering (2014) · cites this paper as [15]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“These additional methods were used because prior work by Greehalgh and Peacock [91] found that less efficient methods like snowballing are likely to identify important sources that would otherwise be missed, since predefined protocol driven search strategies cannot solely be relied on.”
From Challenges and barriers in virtual teams: a literature review (2020) · cites this paper as [91]
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“We piloted the use of a highly structured search strategy using protocol-driven searches across a range of electronic databases but, like Greenhalgh and Peacock [17] found that was this unsatisfactory.”
From Conducting a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature on access to healthcare by vulnerable groups (2006) · cites this paper as [17]
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“Greenhalgh and Peacock [15] applied three different search methods in their research, and concluded that protocol-driven search approaches by themselves are not necessarily the most efficient method regardless of the number of databases used”
From Guidelines for snowballing in systematic literature studies and a replication in software engineering (2014) · cites this paper as [15]
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“the included articles’ reference lists also were evaluated (using the snowball method) to ensure that all relevant articles were included in the study [21].”
From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [21]
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“After reading the first author ' s reports on the literature, the full research team decided to exclude another 71 articles from the selection that, based on the full text, proved not to meet the inclusion criteria.”
From The Role of School in Adolescents’ Identity Development. A Literature Review (2019) · cites this paper as Greenhalgh and Peacock (2005)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“As many relevant studies may be identified in sources other than electronic databases [29,30], searches that extend beyond the standard electronic databases should be considered.”
From COSMOS-E: Guidance on conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies of etiology (2019) · cites this paper as [29]
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Citations
Cites
Synthesising qualitative and quantitative evidence: A review of possible methods
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Competing interests: none declared.
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de Guzmán, E. N., García, L. M., González‐González, A. I., Heijmans, M., Huaringa-Marcelo, J., Immonen, K., Ninov, L., Orrego, C., Bracchiglione, J., Salas-Gama, K., et al. (2020) · F1000Research · doi:10.12688/f1000research.22125.1 · Cited by 19
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Roth, C., Schoenfeld, B. J., & Behringer, M. (2022) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-022-04896-5 · Cited by 21
“In addition, author names and reference lists were used for further search (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005).”
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Alghababsheh, M., Gallear, D., & Saikouk, T. (2022) · European Management Review · doi:10.1111/emre.12541 · Cited by 19
Villar, P. F., Kozakiewicz, T., Bachina, V., Young, S., & Shisler, S. (2023) · Campbell Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/cl2.1348 · Cited by 19
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Calderón-Fajardo, V. (2023) · Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research · doi:10.1080/10941665.2023.2289415 · Cited by 21
“▪ Incorporating Additional Sources: In a bid to uncover potentially pertinent studies, the biblio-graphies of the retained articles were manually reviewed, leveraging the snowballing method (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodIdentifying and promoting qualitative methods for impact assessment
Walker, H., Pope, J., Morrison‐Saunders, A., Bond, A., Diduck, A. P., Sinclair, A. J., Middel, B., & Retief, F. (2024) · Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal · doi:10.1080/14615517.2024.2369454 · Cited by 19
“In addition to our SLR searches, we also employed the ‘snowball’ methods of Greenhalgh and Peacock (2005) to pursue ‘ references of references and electronic citation tracking ’ (p. 1065).”
Methodde Carvalho, P. P. S., Kalid, R. D. A., Rodríguez, J. L. M., & Santiago, S. B. (2019) · Scientometrics · doi:10.1007/s11192-019-03149-1 · Cited by 19
Patient involvement in surgical wound care research: A scoping review
Muir, R., Carlini, J., Harbeck, E., Gillespie, B. M., Tuffaha, H., Walker, R., McInnes, E., Latimer, S. L., Lin, F. F., Pearcy, J., et al. (2020) · International Wound Journal · doi:10.1111/iwj.13395 · Cited by 19
Meza‐Mauricio, J., Furquim, C. P., Torrez, W. B., Soto‐Peñaloza, D., Peñarrocha‐Oltra, D., Retamal‐Valdes, B., & Faveri, M. (2021) · Clinical Oral Investigations · doi:10.1007/s00784-021-03782-2 · Cited by 19
Mendoza-Geng, A., Gonzales-Medina, K., Meza‐Mauricio, J., Muniz, F. W. M. G., & Vergara‐Buenaventura, A. (2022) · Clinical Oral Investigations · doi:10.1007/s00784-022-04467-0 · Cited by 19
Baxter, S. K., Blank, L., Johnson, M., Everson-Hock, E., Woods, H. B., Goyder, E., Payne, N., & Mountain, G. A. (2016) · Public Health Research · doi:10.3310/phr04040 · Cited by 19
Medication-taking experiences in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review
Rashid, A., Lovick, S., & Llanwarne, N. R. (2017) · Family Practice · doi:10.1093/fampra/cmx088 · Cited by 20
On Different Search Methods for Systematic Literature Reviews and Maps
Brings, J., Daun, M., Kempe, M., & Weyer, T. (2018) · International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE) · doi:10.1145/3210459.3210463 · Cited by 19
“For instance, Greenhalgh and Peacock [14] found that systematic reviews of complex evidences cannot entirely be based on database searches alone.”
BackgroundSupplementary strategies identified additional eligible studies in qualitative systematic reviews
Frandsen, T. F., & Eriksen, M. B. (2023) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2023.04.017 · Cited by 19
Effects of marine seismic surveys on free-ranging fauna: a systematic literature review
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“We acknowledge that systematic reviews are widely applied in health research but are less common in environmental science (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
BackgroundBikou, A., Deligianni, E., Dermiki‐Gkana, F., Liappas, N., Teriús-Padrón, J. G., Beltrán, M. E., Cabrera-Umpiérrez, M. F., & Kontogiorgis, C. A. (2024) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/60504 · Cited by 21
“All references from the selected studies were retrieved and manually reviewed using the snowball effect [57].”
SCOTTI, F. M., Stuepp, R. T., Dutra, K. L., Modolo, F., & Cavalcanti, M. G. P. (2022) · Dentomaxillofacial Radiology · doi:10.1259/dmfr.20210291 · Cited by 18
Chew, N., Ng, C.-H., Kong, G., Lee, K.-S., Tan, D. J. H., Lim, O. Z.-H., Chin, Y. H., Tai, B. C., Gu, T., Park, S., et al. (2022) · The American Journal of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2022.02.044 · Cited by 18
Corbella, S., Walter, C., & Tsesis, I. (2022) · International Endodontic Journal · doi:10.1111/iej.13808 · Cited by 18
Moslehian, A. S., Warner, E., & Andrews, F. J. (2023) · Journal of Housing and the Built Environment · doi:10.1007/s10901-023-10027-z · Cited by 18
systematic review on the use of serious games in project management education
Hellström, M., Jaccard, D., & Bonnier, K. E. (2023) · International Journal of Serious Games · doi:10.17083/ijsg.v10i2.630 · Cited by 32
Understanding the impact of environmental impact assessment research on policy and practice
Morrison‐Saunders, A., Nykiel, A., & Atkins, N. (2023) · Environmental Impact Assessment Review · doi:10.1016/j.eiar.2023.107334 · Cited by 18
Inácio, P. A., Gomes, Y. S. M., de Aguiar, A. J. N., Lopes-Martins, P. S. L., Aimbire, F., Leonardo, P. S., Filho, A. S. S., & Lopes‐Martins, R. Á. B. (2024) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu16193403 · Cited by 20
“Among these selected articles, the reference lists were subsequently reviewed to identify any additional relevant publications [27].”
BackgroundLeavy, S., Allegretti, G., Presotto, E., Montoya, M. A., & Talamini, E. (2024) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su16208727 · Cited by 18
Sarvari, H., Edwards, D. J., Rillie, I., & Roberts, C. (2025) · Buildings · doi:10.3390/buildings15030347 · Cited by 21
Faggion, C. M. (2011) · Journal of Oral Rehabilitation · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2842.2011.02230.x · Cited by 18
Goodman, C. M., Malone, J. R., Norton, C. S., Harari, D., Harwood, R., Roe, B. H., Russell, B., Fader, M. J., Buswell, M., Drennan, V. M., et al. (2015) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-007728 · Cited by 19
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Misiura, M. M., Filipe, J. A. N., Walk, C. L., & Kyriazakis, I. (2018) · British Journal Of Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s0007114518000612 · Cited by 16
“In addition, the references in relevant articles generated by the literature searches were also screened as per Greenhalgh & Peacock((30)) guidelines.”
MethodAhmed, K. R., Uddin, R., Kolbe-Alexander, T. L., & Khan, A. (2021) · Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2021.02.011 · Cited by 21
Emergy as a Tool to Evaluate Ecosystem Services: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Nadalini, A. C. V., Kalid, R. D. A., & Torres, E. A. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su13137102 · Cited by 18
“[28] using the PRISMA model (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), along with an adaptation of the “snowballing” technique [29], where we used our knowledge and judgment to decide on the inclusion of new terms from the list of full text papers which were found initially.”
MethodA process-based framework for digital building logbooks
Mêda, P., Calvetti, D., Kifokeris, D., & Kassem, M. (2022) · Computing in construction · doi:10.35490/ec3.2022.183 · Cited by 18
“To further ensure that the selected set of studies is not too narrow and is representative of the body of knowledge in this area (MacLure 2005), “snowballing” and references-of-references techniques (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005) were adopted.”
Bunn, F., Goodman, C. M., Manthorpe, J., Durand, M., Hodkinson, I., Rait, G., Millac, P. A. H., Davies, S. L., Russell, B., & Wilson, P. M. (2017) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014026 · Cited by 19
The number needed to retrieve: a practically useful measure of information retrieval?
Booth, A. (2006) · Health Information & Libraries Journal · doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2006.00663.x · Cited by 18
Concepts underlying outcome measures in studies of consultations in general practice
Andén, A., Andersson, S., & Rudebeck, C.-E. (2006) · Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care · doi:10.1080/02813430600853271 · Cited by 18
“The procedure has many similarities to the work described by Greenhalgh [3] who found that literature searches of complex matters cannot rely solely on predefined protocol-driven search strategies.”
MethodResultExploring the Challenges and Potentials of Working Design-Based in Educational Research
Gundersen, P. B. (2021) · VBN Forskningsportal (Aalborg Universitet) · doi:10.54337/aau432703538 · Cited by 19
The Value of Master's Degree Programmes in Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review
O'Callaghan, C., Sandars, J. E., Brown, J., & Sherratt, C. (2024) · The Clinical Teacher · doi:10.1111/tct.13758 · Cited by 17
Darre, M. E., Constantinides, P., Domisch, S., Floury, M., Hermoso, V., Ørsted, M., & Langhans, S. D. (2024) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.178180 · Cited by 18
Ramdzan, S. N., Suhaimi, J., Harris, K. M., Khoo, E. M., Liew, S. M., Cunningham, S., & Pinnock, H. (2021) · npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41533-021-00230-2 · Cited by 18
Evaluating conservation status and governmental efforts towards regional flagship species in Brazil
Wosnick, N., Leite, R. D., Giareta, E. P., Nunes, A. R. O. P., Nunes, J. L. S., Charvet, P., & Monteiro‐Filho, E. L. A. (2021) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112732 · Cited by 17
Stylianou, M., Woodforde, J., Duncombe, S. L., Kolbe-Alexander, T. L., & Gomersall, S. R. (2021) · Health & Place · doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102705 · Cited by 17
Accuracy of smartphone-based hearing screening tests: a systematic review
Melo, I. M. M., Silva, A. R. X., Camargo, R., Cavalcanti, H. G., Ferrari, D. V., Taveira, K. V. M., & Balen, S. A. (2022) · CoDAS · doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20212020380 · Cited by 22
“The authors performed an additional search in the grey literature, including Google Scholar, OpenGrey and ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis as well as a manual search in reference lists of the included studies following the recommendations of Greenhalgh and Peacock (18) .”
Hung, K., Ko, C., Chang, P., Wang, K.-F., Teng, I., Lin, C.-H., Huang, P., & Sun, C. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-10396-5 · Cited by 17
Diet, Microbes, and Cancer Across the Tree of Life: a Systematic Review
Kapsetaki, S. E., Alcaraz, G. M., Maley, C. C., Whisner, C. M., & Aktipis, A. (2022) · Current Nutrition Reports · doi:10.1007/s13668-022-00420-5 · Cited by 19
The Use of Digital Peer Assessment in Higher Education—An Umbrella Review of Literature
van Helden, G., van der Werf, V., Saunders-Smits, G., & Specht, M. M. (2023) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2023.3252914 · Cited by 29
“This approach was chosen as research has shown that just consulting databases such as Scopus yield incomplete results and that in most systematic reviews up to 51% of references in a systematic review are identified by snowballing [33].”
MethodBou, C. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20064807 · Cited by 17
“, checking the reference list of primary studies and reviews to find relevant papers) was additionally conducted to identify more potentially eligible studies [20].”
Pinnock, H., Noble, M., Lo, D. K. H., McClatchey, K., Marsh, V., & Hui, C. Y. (2023) · Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine · doi:10.1080/17476348.2023.2241357 · Cited by 20
Nevsky, A., Neate, T., Simperl, E. P. B., & Vatavu, R.-D. (2023) · ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences · doi:10.1145/3573381.3596159 · Cited by 18
Chlorogiannis, D., Bousi, S.-E., Zachiotis, M., Chlorogiannis, A., Kyriakoulis, I., & Bellos, I. (2023) · Journal of Nephrology · doi:10.1007/s40620-023-01814-6 · Cited by 19
“The systematic literature search was conducted on Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials); the full reference lists of the retrieved studies were also searched to identify additional articles (“snowball” method [8]).”
MethodVracem, M. V., Spruytte, N., Declercq, A., & Audenhove, C. V. (2015) · Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences · doi:10.1111/scs.12240 · Cited by 17
Handley, M., Bunn, F., & Goodman, C. M. (2015) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/s13643-015-0168-2 · Cited by 20
Corbett, M. S., Watson, J. M., & Eastwood, A. J. (2016) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1823-6 · Cited by 17
“This has been shown to be a particularly efficient use of search time in reviews of complex evidence [10].”
BackgroundSaal, S., Beutner, K., Bogunski, J., Obermüller, K., Müller, M., Grill, E., & Meyer, G. (2017) · Age and Ageing · doi:10.1093/ageing/afx026 · Cited by 17
The role of academic health centres in improving health equity: a systematic review
Edelman, A., Taylor, J., Ovseiko, P. V., & Topp, S. M. (2018) · Journal of Health Organization and Management · doi:10.1108/jhom-09-2017-0255 · Cited by 17
Alvarez-López, F., Maina, M. F., & Saigí-Rubió, F. (2019) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/11925 · Cited by 17
“The search was limited to English-language publications and was complemented using the snowballing technique to identify relevant articles in the references of articles returned by our search [49].”
Mulligan, C., Furlong, M., & McGilloway, S. (2019) · Advances in Mental Health · doi:10.1080/18387357.2019.1614466 · Cited by 19
“References of included studies were also perused (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005) together with grey literature (e.g. government reports and pan-European research detailed on the Enter Mental Health website -http://www. entermentalhealth.net/) and expert overviews and policy documents (e.g. Beardslee,…”
BackgroundTraffic Regulator Detection and Identification from Crowdsourced Data—A Systematic Literature Review
Zourlidou, S., & Sester, M. (2019) · ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information · doi:10.3390/ijgi8110491 · Cited by 17
“According to Reference [57], the best literature reviews examine the literature with a particular lens defined by the article’s objectives.”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialRowlands, H., & Milligan, S. (2020) · WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks · doi:10.1142/9789811230356_0001 · Cited by 21
A systematic review of Asian community participation in biosphere reserves
Jaafar, M., Ebekozien, A., Mohamad, D., & Salman, A. (2021) · PSU Research Review · doi:10.1108/prr-12-2020-0040 · Cited by 17
Ramis-Alario, A., Soto‐Peñaloza, D., Tarazona‐Álvarez, B., Diago, M. P., & Peñarrocha‐Oltra, D. (2021) · Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology · doi:10.1016/j.oooo.2021.07.002 · Cited by 18
Honnef, L. R., Pauletto, P., Réus, J. C., Massignan, C., de Souza, B. D. M., Michelotti, A., Flores‐Mir, C., & Canto, G. D. L. (2022) · CRANIO® · doi:10.1080/08869634.2022.2047510 · Cited by 17
“Also, three top experts in TMD and occlusal splints, defined according to Scopus analyzed search results, were consulted by email following the recommendation of Greenhalgh and Peacock [24].”
An Evolutionary Perspective on Socio-Technical Congruence: The Rubber Band Effect
Betz, S., Šmite, D., Fricker, S., Moss, A., Afzal, W., Svahnberg, M., Wohlin, C., Börstler, J., & Gorschek, T. (2013) · International Workshop on Replication in Empirical Software Engineering Research (RESER) · doi:10.1109/reser.2013.8 · Cited by 18
How far can systematic reviews inform policy development for “wicked” rural health service problems?
Humphreys, J. S., Kuipers, P., Kinsman, L. A. D., Wells, R. W., Jones, J., & Wakerman, J. (2009) · Australian Health Review · doi:10.1071/ah090592 · Cited by 18
Rubincam, C., Lacombe‐Duncan, A., & Newman, P. A. (2015) · Expert Review of Vaccines · doi:10.1586/14760584.2016.1118349 · Cited by 17
“These techniques are commonly used in developing a comprehensive list of primary studies for qualitative synthesis.[28] Lastly, we searched Google”
MethodSekhon, K. K., Fashler, S. R., Versloot, J., Lee, S., & Craig, K. D. (2017) · Pain Research and Management · doi:10.1155/2017/3017837 · Cited by 17
“Review articles were retained as potential sources of relevant scales through the “snowball method” that is effective to identify obscure articles that might otherwise be overlooked [21].”
BackgroundHongoh, V., Gosselin, P., Michel, P., Ravel, A., Waaub, J., Campagna, C., & Samoura, K. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0190049 · Cited by 17
Constructing and evaluating automated literature review systems
Portenoy, J., & West, J. D. (2020) · Scientometrics · doi:10.1007/s11192-020-03490-w · Cited by 17
“This approach allowed for detailed analysis of how subtopics are related within a field, but it relied on keyword searches, which can be an insufficient method of identifying all relevant articles (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005; Horsley et al. 2011; Larsen et al. 2019).”
MethodThe Pitfalls of a Systematic MEDLINE Review in Palliative Medicine: Symptom Assessment Instruments
O’Leary, N., Tiernan, E., Walsh, D., Lucey, N., Kirkova, J., & Davis, M. P. (2007) · American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine® · doi:10.1177/1049909106298394 · Cited by 17
“more efficient way of finding relevant articles.(6) Many palliative medicine interventions are complex.”
BackgroundSex Differences in Grip Strength From Birth to Age 16: A Meta‐Analysis
Nuzzo, J. L. (2025) · European Journal of Sport Science · doi:10.1002/ejsc.12268 · Cited by 23
Singh, H., Armas, A., Law, S., Tang, T., Gray, C. S., Cunningham, H., Thombs, R., Ellen, M., Sritharan, J., Nie, J. X., et al. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045596 · Cited by 17
A Systematic Review of Machine Learning for Assessment and Feedback of Treatment Fidelity
Ahmadi, A., Noetel, M., Schellekens, M., Parker, P. D., Antczak, D., Beauchamp, M. R., Dicke, T., Diezmann, C. M., Maeder, A., Ntoumanis, N., et al. (2021) · Psychosocial Intervention · doi:10.5093/pi2021a4 · Cited by 19
“We conducted forward and backward citation searching on studies that passed full-text to identify related papers which did not appear in the systematic search (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005; Hinde & Spackman, 2015).”
MethodChun, H.-R., Cheon, E., & Hwang, J. (2022) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-055179 · Cited by 17
King, H., Wright, J. M., Treanor, D. E., Williams, B. J., & Randell, R. (2022) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/38039 · Cited by 20
“Additional papers were identified through personal recommendation and “snowballing” (pursuing references of references) [27].”
BackgroundSacot, A., López‐Ros, V., Prats‐Puig, A., Escosa, J., Barretina, J. G., & Calleja-González, J. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19159642 · Cited by 16
“The reference sections of all identified articles were also examined by applying the “snowball methods” strategy, based on examining the reference sections of the identified articles [45].”
MethodA study of approaches to answering complex questions over knowledge bases
Gomes, J., de Mello, R. C., Ströele, V., & de Souza, J. F. (2022) · Knowledge and Information Systems · doi:10.1007/s10115-022-01737-x · Cited by 16
Organizing Sustainable Development
Kuźniarska, A., Mania, K., & Jedynak, M. (2023) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003379409 · Cited by 24
Pithavadian, R., Chalmers, J., & Dune, T. M. (2023) · Women s Health · doi:10.1177/17455057231199383 · Cited by 19
“41 Research has found that citation searching can uncover over half the studies relevant for a review 44 and therefore be more comprehensive in identifying the relevant literature than database searches.”
BackgroundAnanthraman, S., Cambré, B., Kittler, M. G., & Delcamp, H. (2023) · International Journal of Management Reviews · doi:10.1111/ijmr.12354 · Cited by 17
Bellos, I., Λάγιου, Π., Benetou, V., & Marinaki, S. (2024) · Lipids in Health and Disease · doi:10.1186/s12944-024-02276-w · Cited by 16
“In addition, Google Scholar was screened to provide grey literature coverage, while the “snowball” method [18] was applied by examining the reference lists of the studies included in the review.”
MethodFeedback effectiveness in professional learning contexts
Johnson, M. (2016) · Review of Education · doi:10.1002/rev3.3061 · Cited by 21
Mogre, V., Scherpbier, A. J. J. A., Dornan, T., Stevens, F. C. J., Aryee, P. A., & Cherry, M. G. (2014) · Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1186/2046-4053-3-148 · Cited by 16
“Recognizing the limitations of a traditional search strategy [37], an expert-directed search using a multiple-search strategy approach will be incorporated.”
MethodInstitutional Collaboration on MOOCs in Education—A Literature Review
Nortvig, A.-M., & Christiansen, R. B. (2017) · The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning · doi:10.19173/irrodl.v18i6.3110 · Cited by 16
“Furthermore, we have used the so-called snowballing techniques (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005), which involve reading, and potentially including, the references of the resources consulted, and to some extent, our prior personal knowledge has also contributed to the final collection of the resources…”
MethodMelo, G., Casett, E., Stuginski‐Barbosa, J., Guerra, E. N. S., Fernandes, D. A., Porporatti, A. L., Flores‐Mir, C., & Canto, G. D. L. (2018) · Journal of Oral Rehabilitation · doi:10.1111/joor.12616 · Cited by 16
Cant, R., & Levett-Jones, T. L. (2020) · Nurse Education in Practice · doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2020.102945 · Cited by 16
Tiedemann, F. (2020) · Production & Manufacturing Research · doi:10.1080/21693277.2020.1856012 · Cited by 16
Brothers, T. D., Lewer, D., Bonn, M., Webster, D., & Harris, M. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049924 · Cited by 16
Oman, S., & Bull, A. (2021) · The Sociological Review · doi:10.1177/00380261211049024 · Cited by 19
Pauletto, P., Polmann, H., Réus, J. C., de Oliveira, J. M. D., Chaves, D., Lehmkuhl, K. M., Massignan, C., Stefani, C. M., Martins, C. C., Flores‐Mir, C., et al. (2022) · Evidence-Based Dentistry · doi:10.1038/s41432-022-0802-5 · Cited by 19
Cavolo, A., de Casterlé, B. D., Naulaers, G., & Gastmans, C. (2020) · Journal of Medical Ethics · doi:10.1136/medethics-2020-106102 · Cited by 16
Frymark, T. B., Schooling, T. L., Mullen, R. C., Wheeler‐Hegland, K., Ashford, J., McCabe, D., Musson, N. D., & Hammond, C. S. (2009) · PubMed · Cited by 16
Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review
Junker, M., Böhm, M., & Krcmar, H. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0296212 · Cited by 21
Huang, C., Huang, T., Yang, Y., Chang, L., Tu, Y., Wu, V., & Chen, J. (2025) · Journal of the American Heart Association · doi:10.1161/jaha.124.038714 · Cited by 18
“1 Furthermore, excessive aldosterone is suggested to result in increased insulin resistance and mineralocorticoid receptor activity, which can lead to endothelial dysfunction, vascular remodeling, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular complications in patients with PA. 2 There were several studies demonstrating that…”
InfluentialBülow, N. S., Wissing, M. L., Macklon, N., Pinborg, A. B., & Løssl, K. (2025) · Human Reproduction Update · doi:10.1093/humupd/dmaf011 · Cited by 15
A Functional Software Reference Architecture for LLM-Integrated Systems
Bucaioni, A., Weyssow, M., He, J., Lyu, Y., & Lo, D. (2025) · IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture Companion (ICSA-C) · doi:10.1109/icsa-c65153.2025.00006 · Cited by 15
“To mitigate biases [13], backward and forward snowballing [24] identified one additional study, resulting in three primary studies [14], [18], [19] 1 .”
Lee, K. G., Gagliardi, A. R., Lofters, A., Pinto, A. D., & Maunder, R. (2025) · Patient Education and Counseling · doi:10.1016/j.pec.2025.109316 · Cited by 15
Calderón‐Larrañaga, S., Clinch, M., Greenhalgh, T., & Finer, S. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-042303 · Cited by 15
Self-citationde Oliveira, J. M. D., Pauletto, P., Werlich, M. O., Massignan, C., Lehmkuhl, K. M., Porfírio, G. J. M., Hallal, A. L. C., & Canto, G. D. L. (2021) · Dental Traumatology · doi:10.1111/edt.12661 · Cited by 15
Singer, A., Wolf, M., Generoso, L., Arias, E., Delcastillo, K., Echevarria, E., Martinez, A., Androulakis Korakakis, P., Refalo, M. C., Swinton, P. A., et al. (2024) · Frontiers in Sports and Active Living · doi:10.3389/fspor.2024.1429789 · Cited by 14
Metadata
- Authors
- Greenhalgh, T., & Peacock, R.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Greenhalgh, Trisha
- ORCID
- Greenhalgh, Trisha
- Venue
- BMJ
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2005-10-17
- Volume
- 331
- Issue
- 7524
- Pages
- 1064-1065
- ISSN
- 0007-1447 (ISSN-L)
- 0959-8138
- 1468-5833
- PMC
- PMC1283190
- OpenAlex
- W2149364707
- Semantic Scholar
- 45cd85a4c05c0c295e4569e08f20a6f3268e6390
- Cited by
- 2,045
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 162 · 2025: 147 · 2024: 202 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 187 · 2021: 210 · 2020: 157 · 2019: 139 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 92 · 2016: 77 · 2015: 74 · 2014: 83 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 2.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMJ (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › scientometrics and bibliometrics research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Sciences Research and Education
- Keywords
- systematic reviews, snowballing, protocol adherence, database searching, hand searching
- MeSH terms
- Data Collection, Review Literature as Topic, Information Storage and Retrieval
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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