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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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In the citing paper
“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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In the citing paper
“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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In the citing paper
“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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Seitz, D. P., Chan, C., Newton, H. T., Gill, S. S., Herrmann, N., Smailagic, N., Nikolaou, V., & Fage, B. A. (2018) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd011415.pub2 · Cited by 75
The ‘gender puzzle’ of alternative medicine and holistic spirituality: A literature review
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Moore, H. E., & Boldero, J. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01874 · Cited by 76
“This method was chosen over the examination of journal contents for two reasons; firstly, searching references can yield a greater amount of unique studies, and secondly, this method is more efficient in terms of the time required to identify unique studies (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
MethodDaluiso-King, G., & Hebron, C. (2020) · Physiotherapy Theory and Practice · doi:10.1080/09593985.2020.1765440 · Cited by 68
“This search had an efficient strategy of focusing on selecting contemporary literature that would offer a ‘current’ conceptual viewpoint of the BPSM in musculoskeletal physiotherapy (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005; Jesus, Bright, Kayes, and Cottl, 2016; Rodgers and Knafl, 2000).”
MethodMori, Y., Tiiri, E., Khanal, P., Khakurel, J., Mishina, K. E., & Sourander, A. (2021) · Children · doi:10.3390/children8030232 · Cited by 84
“Additional literature was identified by assessing the reference lists of the selected papers to ensure that all the potentially eligible studies were included [27].”
BackgroundA Review of the High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing Industry
Gan, Z. L., Musa, S. N., & Yap, H. J. (2023) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app13031687 · Cited by 68
Travert, A.-S., Annerstedt, K. S., & Daivadanam, M. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16081454 · Cited by 67
“Finally, snowball searches were applied to identify additional relevant papers and to search for gray literature such as national and international reports based on systematic reviews [15].”
MethodNigg, C., Weyland, S., Jekauc, D., & Schipperijn, J. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16214266 · Cited by 83
“Additional, possibly relevant studies were identified using the “snowball principle” by screening the references of all included studies [38] and of the four systematic reviews that had already been carried out in this field [28,34–36].”
A review of European models to assess the sustainability performance of livestock production systems
van der Linden, A., de Olde, E. M., Mostert, P. F., & de Boer, I. J. M. (2020) · Agricultural Systems · doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2020.102842 · Cited by 81
Adoption of alternative fuel vehicle fleets – A theoretical framework of barriers and enablers
Mohammed, L., Niesten, E., & Gagliardi, D. (2020) · Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.trd.2020.102558 · Cited by 66
Using Mobile Applications to Increase Physical Activity: A Systematic Review
Pradal-Cano, L., Lozano-Ruiz, C., Rodríguez, J., Saigí-Rubió, F., Bach-Faig, A., Esquius, L., Medina, F. X., & Aguilar, A. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17218238 · Cited by 85
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Abbasi, M., Majdzadeh, R., Zali, A., Karimi, A., & Akrami, F. (2017) · Medicine Health Care and Philosophy · doi:10.1007/s11019-017-9813-y · Cited by 66
Dual-process models of health-related behaviour and cognition: a review of theory
Houlihan, S. (2018) · Public Health · doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2017.11.002 · Cited by 72
de Vries, B. B. L. P., van Smeden, M., Rosendaal, F. R., & Groenwold, R. H. H. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.01.009 · Cited by 69
Habib, G. M., Rabinovich, R., Divgi, K., Ahmed, S., Saha, S. K., Singh, S., Uddin, A., Uzzaman, N., & Pinnock, H. (2020) · npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine · doi:10.1038/s41533-020-00210-y · Cited by 68
Bérubé, M., Poitras, S., Bastien, M., Laliberté, L.-A., Lacharité, A., & Gross, D. P. (2017) · Physiotherapy · doi:10.1016/j.physio.2017.05.002 · Cited by 70
Chadborn, N., Goodman, C. M., Zubair, M., Sousa, L., Gladman, J. R. F., Dening, T., & Gordon, A. L. (2019) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026921 · Cited by 71
“29 Stage 3 involved discussion to develop the final iteration of the programme theory, a series of presentations to the whole project team and to the expert project steering group.”
Understanding context: A concept analysis
Squires, J. E., Graham, I. D., Bashir, K., Penno, L. N., Lavis, J. N., Francis, J., Curran, J., Grimshaw, J., Brehaut, J., Ivers, N. M., et al. (2019) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.14165 · Cited by 63
“Indexing (MeSH - Medical Subject Headings) and key terms identified in relevant literature (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005; Greenhalgh, Robert, & Bate, 2004a; Greenhalgh, Robert, Macfarlane, Bate, & Kyriakidou, 2004d; Hutchinson et al., 2010; Kaplan et al., 2010; May et al., 2007) were used to develop…”
MethodWhat causes prescribing errors in children? Scoping review
Conn, R., Kearney, O., Tully, M. P., Shields, M. D., & Dornan, T. (2019) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028680 · Cited by 66
Ackley, C., Elsheikh, M., & Zaman, S. (2021) · PLoS neglected tropical diseases · doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0009278 · Cited by 64
“Data sources and search strategy An initial search of the literature on NTD interventions and community health promotion theory using the snowball method [17] was implemented in March 2020 through a search of Google Scholar and the University of Sussex (UoS) library database with no date restrictions; only the first 1…”
MethodAn Overview of Self-Administered Health Literacy Instruments
O’Neill, B. G., Gonçalves, D. C., Ricci‐Cabello, I., Ziébland, S., & Valderas, J. M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109110 · Cited by 67
“Our systematic searches were augmented by ‘snowballing’ [19] from the reference lists of key identified papers, which identified 45 additional studies for title and abstract review.”
MethodVorstenbosch, M. A. T. M., Klaassen, T. P. F. M., Kooloos, J. G. M., Bolhuis, S. M., & Laan, R. (2012) · Anatomical Sciences Education · doi:10.1002/ase.1290 · Cited by 64
“Moreover, radiological images like X-rays, CT-series, MRI-series, and ultrasound are used extensively to explain anatomical structures and relations and to familiarize the students with these images (Gunderman and Wilson, 2005; Marker et al., 2010).”
BackgroundGiuffrida, R., & Dittrich, Y. (2013) · Information and Software Technology · doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2013.01.004 · Cited by 64
“The process of pursuing references of references is known as snowballing [10].”
BackgroundThe nursing contribution to chronic disease management: A discussion paper
Forbes, A., & While, A. (2008) · International Journal of Nursing Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.06.010 · Cited by 64
Iliffe, S., Wilcock, J., Drennan, V. M., Goodman, C. M., Griffin, M., Knapp, M. R. J., Lowery, D., Manthorpe, J., Rait, G., & Warner, J. P. (2015) · Programme Grants for Applied Research · doi:10.3310/pgfar03030 · Cited by 66
A Review of HIV-Specific Patient-Reported Outcome Measures
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“This has been confirmed by previous research on identifying relevant articles on nondrug interventions [30,31].”
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Global cities: A multi-disciplinary review and research agenda
Chakravarty, D., Goerzen, A., Musteen, M., & Ahsan, M. (2020) · Journal of World Business · doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2020.101182 · Cited by 66
Gervasi, D., Faldetta, G., Pellegrini, M. M., & Maley, J. F. (2021) · European Management Journal · doi:10.1016/j.emj.2021.07.008 · Cited by 75
Fage, B. A., Chan, C., Gill, S. S., Noel-Storr, A. H., Herrmann, N., Smailagic, N., Nikolaou, V., & Seitz, D. P. (2015) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd010860.pub2 · Cited by 63
Harrison, J. K., Fearon, P. A., Noel-Storr, A. H., McShane, R. H., Stott, D. J., & Quinn, T. J. (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd010771.pub2 · Cited by 65
Boyce, T., & Holmes, A. H. (2012) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043416 · Cited by 62
“Snowballing techniques (analysing references in the bibliographies and further hand searches) were then completed to identify other high quality articles [48], leading to seven more articles.”
MethodThe inheritance of groin hernia: a systematic review
Burcharth, J., Pommergaard, H., & Rosenberg, J. (2013) · Hernia · doi:10.1007/s10029-013-1060-4 · Cited by 67
“To supply the strategic search, a reference search in the obtained articles0 reference list was done, as not all relevant studies are expected to be returned only by relying on systematic database searches [19].”
BackgroundAD-8 for detection of dementia across a variety of healthcare settings
Hendry, K., Green, C., McShane, R. H., Noel-Storr, A. H., Stott, D. J., Anwer, S., Sutton, A. J., Burton, J. K., & Quinn, T. J. (2019) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd011121.pub2 · Cited by 62
Salajan, A., Tsolova, S., Ciotti, M., & Suk, J. E. (2020) · Evidence & Policy · doi:10.1332/174426420x15808913064302 · Cited by 86
Berretta, L. M., Melo, G., Mello, F. W., Lizio, G., & Rivero, E. R. C. (2021) · British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery · doi:10.1016/j.bjoms.2021.03.004 · Cited by 61
Athukorala, K., Hoggan, E., Lehtiö, A., Ruotsalo, T., & Jacucci, G. (2013) · Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/meet.14505001041 · Cited by 60
“Challenge 6: Navigation and Ranking Support Citation chaining (snowballing) and browsing through reputable forums are known to be the most common SLR techniques used by researchers (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodTranslating Management Concepts: Towards a Typology of Alternative Approaches
van Grinsven, M., Heusinkveld, S., & Cornelissen, J. (2016) · International Journal of Management Reviews · doi:10.1111/ijmr.12106 · Cited by 60
International Online Collaboration Competencies in Higher Education Students: A Systematic Review
Kolm, A., de Nooijer, J., Vanherle, K., Werkman, A. M., Wewerka-Kreimel, D., Rachman‐Elbaum, S., & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2021) · Journal of Studies in International Education · doi:10.1177/10283153211016272 · Cited by 60
“To identify unpublished studies, “snow-ball” methods like pursuing references of references and electronic citation tracking were applied (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodInvestigating Healthcare 4.0 Transition Through a Knowledge Management Perspective
Abbate, S., Centobelli, P., Cerchione, R., Oropallo, E., & Riccio, E. (2022) · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management · doi:10.1109/tem.2022.3200889 · Cited by 65
“We used a “snowball” strategy for the fourth criterion [48] to classify”
MethodSchouten, H. J., Nieuwenhuis, M. K., & van Zuijlen, P. P. M. (2011) · Burns · doi:10.1016/j.burns.2011.06.003 · Cited by 61
Horne, A., Szemis, J. M., Kaur, S., Webb, J. A., Stewardson, M. J., Costa, A. M., & Boland, N. (2016) · Environmental Modelling & Software · doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2016.06.028 · Cited by 60
“Additional papers were located by searching bibliographies of papers found during the search e a ‘snowball search’, and through the professional knowledge and peer networks of the authors (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
MethodInterventions to improve antimicrobial prescribing of doctors in training (IMPACT): a realist review
Papoutsi, C., Mattick, K. L., Pearson, M., Brennan, N., Briscoe, S., & Wong, G. (2018) · Health Services and Delivery Research · doi:10.3310/hsdr06100 · Cited by 62
Korać, S., Saliterer, I., & Weigand, B. (2018) · International Public Management Journal · doi:10.1080/10967494.2018.1430086 · Cited by 60
“To ensure that all relevant articles were included in the review (see Greenhalgh et al. 2004; Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005), those records also served as the start set for snowballing strategies, which were carried out in an iterative process.”
BackgroundA dynamic capabilities view of improvement capability
Furnival, J., Boaden, R., & Walshe, K. (2019) · Journal of Health Organization and Management · doi:10.1108/jhom-11-2018-0342 · Cited by 69
“Multiple cycles of iterative literature searching and browsing took place to support serendipitous discovery (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005) including the use of snowballing strategies and the use of personal knowledge and connections to seek out more obscure literature until saturation was reached (Randolph, 2009; Jon…”
BackgroundTowards a Broader Assessment of Value in Vaccines: The BRAVE Way Forward
Bell, E., Neri, M., & Steuten, L. (2021) · Applied Health Economics and Health Policy · doi:10.1007/s40258-021-00683-z · Cited by 59
Mindlin, M., Jenkins, R., & Law, C. (2009) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.2008.077073 · Cited by 59
Sleep-related disorders in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus: current insights
Perfect, M. M. (2020) · Nature and Science of Sleep · doi:10.2147/nss.s152555 · Cited by 62
A review of workplace spirituality: identifying present development and future research agenda
Mhatre, S. G., & Mehta, N. (2022) · Management Research Review · doi:10.1108/mrr-11-2021-0800 · Cited by 58
Nuzzo, J. L., Pinto, M. D., Nosaka, K., & Steele, J. (2023) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01851-y · Cited by 58
Verhagen, A. P., Downie, A., Maher, C. G., & Koes, B. W. (2017) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000998 · Cited by 61
“Strength and limitations The search strategy for this study was relatively broad, and we also included snowballing techniques, which meant that we started with reference and citation tracking of a land mark article, which is regarded a powerful strategy especially for finding papers in obscure locations [11].”
BackgroundDynamic Capabilities and Ambidexterity: How are These Concepts Related?
Popadiuk, S., Luz, A. R. S., & Kretschmer, C. (2018) · Revista de Administração Contemporânea · doi:10.1590/1982-7849rac2018180135 · Cited by 58
Parke, J., & Parke, A. (2013) · The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics · doi:10.5750/jgbe.v7i3.819 · Cited by 57
“…for this paper was carried out in three concurrent phases: A search of online electronic databases; Grey literature accessed through web-based searches, personal knowledge and professional contacts and; ‗Snowballing‘ where references of references are pursued (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
Cannabis for Therapeutic Purposes and public health and safety: A systematic and critical review
Sznitman, S. R., & Zolotov, Y. (2014) · International Journal of Drug Policy · doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.09.005 · Cited by 57
Parry, R. H., & Land, V. (2013) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/1471-2288-13-69 · Cited by 65
“Doing so is established practice in systematic reviews of complex interventions and those where social science literature is examined [3,72].”
BackgroundSmoking and sickness absence: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Troelstra, S. A., Coenen, P., Boot, C. R. L., Harting, J., Kunst, A. E., & van der Beek, A. J. (2019) · Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health · doi:10.5271/sjweh.3848 · Cited by 59
“A study from Greenhalgh and colleagues concluded that by relying solely on protocoldriven search strategies, important evidence might be missed and that "snowball" methods can identify high quality evidence that would not have been detected otherwise (64).”
BackgroundGuise, J., Chang, C., Viswanathan, M., Glick, S., Treadwell, J. R., Umscheid, C. A., Whitlock, E. P., Fu, R. F., Berliner, E., Paynter, R. A., et al. (2014) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.06.010 · Cited by 59
Review on the Inherently Safer Design for chemical processes: Past, present and future
Gao, X., Raman, A. A. A., Hizaddin, H. F., Bello, M. M., & Buthiyappan, A. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127154 · Cited by 57
Novel citation-based search method for scientific literature: application to meta-analyses
Janssens, A. C. J. W., & GWINN, M. L. (2015) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-015-0077-z · Cited by 57
Systematically Retrieving Research: A Case Study Evaluating Seven Databases
Taylor, B. J., Wylie, E. C., Dempster, M., & Donnelly, M. (2007) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/1049731507304402 · Cited by 56
“Previous research suggests that relying solely on one database is inadequate for retrieving all the relevant literature (Hopewell et al. 2002; Stevinson & Lawlor, 2004; Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodPredictors of mortality in patients with flail chest: a systematic review
Battle, C. E., & Evans, P. A. (2015) · Emergency Medicine Journal · doi:10.1136/emermed-2015-204939 · Cited by 56
Time from submission to publication varied widely for biomedical journals: a systematic review
Andersen, M. Z., Fonnes, S., & Rosenberg, J. (2021) · Current Medical Research and Opinion · doi:10.1080/03007995.2021.1905622 · Cited by 59
Young, K., Bunn, F., Trivedi, D., & Dickinson, A. (2011) · International Journal of Nursing Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2011.03.007 · Cited by 80
“In addition we used ‘lateral searching’ techniques such as those recommended when searching for studies on complex interventions (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
MethodGenerating Better Queries for Systematic Reviews
Scells, H., & Zuccon, G. (2018) · International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval (SIGIR) · doi:10.1145/3209978.3210020 · Cited by 55
“Past research has found that only 30% of citations are retrieved using the Boolean queries defined in the protocol of the systematic review [6] (51% of citations were discovered by pursuing references of references, and 24% by personal knowledge or contacts 3 ) – a recall problem.”
BackgroundDefining, assessing, and developing creativity in sport: a systematic narrative review
Fardilha, F. D. S., & Allen, J. B. (2019) · International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1080/1750984x.2019.1616315 · Cited by 60
“Additionally, a manual search process was conducted by using 99 both forward and backwards snowballing approaches (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005), 100 with two titles (n=2) being included.”
MethodAssociation between painful temporomandibular disorders and sleep quality: A systematic review
Dreweck, F. D. S., Soares, S., Duarte, J., Conti, P. C. R., Canto, G. D. L., & Porporatti, A. L. (2020) · Journal of Oral Rehabilitation · doi:10.1111/joor.12993 · Cited by 55
Gutierrez-Bucheli, L. A., Reid, A. D., & Kidman, G. (2022) · Environmental Education Research · doi:10.1080/13504622.2022.2047896 · Cited by 69
“Likewise, researchers could consider the benefits of involving other search strategies, quality and member checks such as ‘snowballing’, reference and citation tracking, or personal knowledge and suggestions (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005) using globalised reference, critical friend or affinity groups.”
BackgroundMan, J. D., Aweko, J., Daivadanam, M., Alvesson, H. M., Delobelle, P., Mayega, R. W., Östenson, C., Kirunda, B. E., Kasujja, F. X., Guwatudde, D., et al. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213530 · Cited by 60
Ford, T. G., Lavigne, A. L., Fiegener, A. M., & Si, S. (2020) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/0034654319899723 · Cited by 79
“We did this by examining the literature reviews of the present studies and key references to cross-check for articles that would District Support for Leader Development otherwise qualify based on the aforementioned inclusionary criteria (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
Curran, C., Burchardt, T., Knapp, M. R. J., McDaid, D., & Li, B. (2007) · Social Policy and Administration · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9515.2007.00553.x · Cited by 54
E-commerce performance in hospitality and tourism
Hua, N. (2016) · International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management · doi:10.1108/ijchm-05-2015-0247 · Cited by 57
Tachkov, K., Zemplenyi, A., Kamusheva, M., Dimitrova, M., Siirtola, P., Pontén, J., Nemeth, B., Kalo, Z., & Petrova, G. (2022) · Frontiers in Public Health · doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.921226 · Cited by 49
Calabrese, A., Costa, R. M. D. S., Ghiron, N. L., Menichini, T., Miscoli, V., & Tiburzi, L. (2020) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125600 · Cited by 53
Meza‐Mauricio, J., Furquim, C. P., Geldres, A., Mendoza‐Azpur, G., Retamal‐Valdes, B., Moraschini, V., & Faveri, M. (2021) · Clinical Oral Investigations · doi:10.1007/s00784-021-03933-5 · Cited by 53
“Finally, the references of studies included were explored to capture any potential additional records, as suggested by Greenhalgh and Peacock [25].”
MethodBir Araştırma Metodolojisi Olarak Sistematik Literatür Taramasına Genel Bakış
YILDIZ, A. (2022) · Anadolu Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi · doi:10.18037/ausbd.1227366 · Cited by 53
Impacts of anthropogenic climate change on tropical montane forests: an appraisal of the evidence
Mata‐Guel, E. O., Soh, M. C. K., Butler, C. W., Morris, R. J., Razgour, O., & Peh, K. S. ‐. (2023) · Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · doi:10.1111/brv.12950 · Cited by 59
“However, we checked reviews for ‘ snow-balling ’ purposes (i.e. pursuing references of references; see Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
Panidi, I., Donti, Ο., Konrad, A., Dinas, P. C., Terzis, G. D., Mouratidis, A. A., Gaspari, V., Donti, A., & Bogdanis, G. C. (2023) · Sports Medicine - Open · doi:10.1186/s40798-023-00591-7 · Cited by 57
“Additional records were found by: (1) searching the reference lists of relevant review papers and studies meeting the eligibility criteria (2) screening the researchers’ personal lists (first authors) in ResearchGate and Google Scholar [32, 33].”
MethodSearch strategies in systematic reviews in periodontology and implant dentistry
Faggion, C. M., Atieh, M. A., & Park, S. (2013) · Journal Of Clinical Periodontology · doi:10.1111/jcpe.12132 · Cited by 53
Mitchell, G. K., Brown, R. M., Erikssen, L., & Tieman, J. (2008) · BMC Family Practice · doi:10.1186/1471-2296-9-44 · Cited by 53
“Discussion The use of a systematic review to describe the outcomes of a complex intervention has to take into account the context in which the study was performed [6,27].”
BackgroundPositive deviance, big data, and development: A systematic literature review
Albanna, B., & Heeks, R. (2018) · The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries · doi:10.1002/isd2.12063 · Cited by 66
Liefbroer, A. I., Ganzevoort, R. R., & Olsman, E. (2019) · Mental Health Religion & Culture · doi:10.1080/13674676.2019.1590806 · Cited by 53
“Therefore, in addition to a total of 74 journal articles and book (chapters) identified via the systematic search, related literature found through snowball methods (e.g., by checking reference lists of identified literature [Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005]) was included.”
Behm, D. G., Alizadeh, S., Anvar, S. H., Hanlon, C., Ramsay, E., Mahmoud, M. M. I., Whitten, J. H. D., Fisher, J. P., Prieske, O., Chaabène, H., et al. (2021) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01456-3 · Cited by 52
Bibliometric analysis and critical review of the research on big data in the construction industry
Lu, Y., & Zhang, J. (2021) · Engineering Construction & Architectural Management · doi:10.1108/ecam-01-2021-0005 · Cited by 52
Angelopoulou, E., Papachristou, N., Bougea, A. M., Stanitsa, E., Kontaxopoulou, D., Fragkiadaki, S., Pavlou, D., Koros, C., Değirmenci, Y., Papatriantafyllou, J. D., et al. (2022) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina58121705 · Cited by 59
Video-assisted thoracoscopy as an important tool for trauma surgeons: a systematic review
Billeter, A. T., Druen, D., Franklin, G. A., Smith, J. W., Wrightson, W. R., & Richardson, J. D. (2013) · Langenbeck s Archives of Surgery · doi:10.1007/s00423-012-1016-7 · Cited by 52
Measuring quality in the therapeutic relationship--Part 1: objective approaches
Greenhalgh, T., & Heath, I. (2010) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/qshc.2010.043364 · Cited by 54
“Having previously demonstrated that when reviewing complex and heterogeneous bodies of literature, asking experts in the field and ‘snowballing’ (pursuing references of references and electronic citation tracking) are more efficient and effective search methods than either database searching or hand searching,”
BackgroundSelf-citationLacombe‐Duncan, A., Newman, P. A., & Baiden, P. (2018) · Vaccine · doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.02.079 · Cited by 51
Buelo, A., Kirk, A. F., Lindsay, R. S., & Jepson, R. G. (2019) · Preventive Medicine Reports · doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.100877 · Cited by 53
Understanding context in knowledge translation: a concept analysis study protocol
Squires, J. E., Graham, I. D., Hutchinson, A. M., Linklater, S., Brehaut, J. C., Curran, J., Ivers, N., Lavis, J. N., Michie, S., Sales, A. E., et al. (2015) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.12574 · Cited by 45
“Initially, we will examine indexing and unique key terms associated with known, relevant discussions of the topic (e.g. Greenhalgh et al. 2004, Greenhalgh & Peacock 2005, May et al. 2007, Hutchinson et al. 2010, Kaplan et al. 2010) and develop a strategy based on these terms.”
MethodThe Effect of Physical Activity on Bone Biomarkers in People With Osteoporosis: A Systematic Review
Marini, S., Barone, G., Masini, A., Dallolio, L., Bragonzoni, L., Longobucco, Y., & Maffei, F. (2020) · Frontiers in Endocrinology · doi:10.3389/fendo.2020.585689 · Cited by 56
Chidlow, A., Wang, J., Liu, X., & Wei, Y. (2021) · International Business Review · doi:10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101843 · Cited by 53
Moslehian, A. S., Roös, P. B., Gaekwad, J. S., & Galen, L. V. (2023) · Building and Environment · doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2023.110057 · Cited by 58
Jesus, T. S., & Silva, I. L. (2016) · Clinical Rehabilitation · doi:10.1177/0269215515585133 · Cited by 51
Grilli, L., Latifi, G., & Mrkajic, B. (2019) · Journal of Economic Surveys · doi:10.1111/joes.12319 · Cited by 51
“…Surveys (2019) Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 1094–1122 C© 2019 The Authors Journal of Economic Surveys Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Finally, we employed a supplementary procedure called snowballing technique (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005) by examining the cited contributions by the selected articles.”
MethodCausal study of low stakeholder engagement in healthcare simulation projects
Jahangirian, M., Taylor, S. J. E., Eatock, J., Stergioulas, L. K., & Taylor, P. M. (2014) · Journal of the Operational Research Society · doi:10.1057/jors.2014.1 · Cited by 50
“There are several strategies when working on literature studies, including formal database search, snowballing (or reference chasing), and personal contacts and knowledge (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005 and Jahangirian et al, 2011).”
MethodStocks, T., Renders, C. M., Bulk-Bunschoten, A. M. W., Hirasing, R. A., van Buuren, S., & Seidell, J. C. (2011) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1467-789x.2011.00869.x · Cited by 50
“Another 25 studies were found through ‘snowballing’ (8).”
BackgroundWhat works for whom in pharmacist-led smoking cessation support: realist review
Greenhalgh, T., Macfarlane, F., Steed, L., & Walton, R. T. (2016) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/s12916-016-0749-5 · Cited by 52
Self-citation
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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