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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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“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
Dixon-Woods, M., Agarwal, S., Jones, D., Young, B., & Sutton, A. (2005) · Journal of Health Services Research & Policy · doi:10.1177/135581960501000110 · Cited by 2,132
Competing interests: none declared.
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Storylines of research in diffusion of innovation: a meta-narrative approach to systematic review
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Macfarlane, F., Bate, P., Kyriakidou, O., & Peacock, R. (2005) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.12.001 · Cited by 913
Self-citationRoyle, P., & Milne, R. (2003) · International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care · doi:10.1017/s0266462303000552 · Cited by 693
Diffusion of Innovations in Health Service Organisations: A Systematic Literature Review
Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Bate, P., Macfarlane, F., & Kyriakidou, O. (2007) · Cited by 453
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Items 601–700 of 1,004
The experiences of prepregnancy care for women with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-synthesis
Forde, R., Patelarou, E., & Forbes, A. (2016) · International Journal of Women s Health · doi:10.2147/ijwh.s115955 · Cited by 39
“Given the complexity of the research topic, the electronic search was supplemented by secondary citation searching, key author searches and contacts with experts in the field of PPC.(18) The results of the search are summarized in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagram…”
van Lier, H. G., Pieterse, M. E., Schraagen, J. M., Postel, M. G., Vollenbroek-Hutten, M. M. R., de Haan, H. A., & Noordzij, M. L. (2017) · Addiction Research & Theory · doi:10.1080/16066359.2017.1309525 · Cited by 74
“According to Greenhalgh and Peacock (2005), a snowballing approach is the most efficient way of collecting articles in a literature review.”
BackgroundYoung-onset dementia: scoping review of key pointers to diagnostic accuracy
O’Malley, M., Parkes, J. H., Stamou, V., Fontaine, J. L., Oyebode, J. R., & Carter, J. (2019) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjo.2019.36 · Cited by 38
Imaging modalities for inguinal hernia diagnosis: a systematic review
Piga, E., Zetner, D. B., Andresen, K., & Rosenberg, J. (2020) · Hernia · doi:10.1007/s10029-020-02189-4 · Cited by 41
Morrissey, M., Shepherd, E., Kinley, E., McClatchey, K., & Pinnock, H. (2021) · British Journal of General Practice · doi:10.3399/bjgp.2020.0963 · Cited by 39
“Prior to publication (July 2020), we undertook forward citation tracking on all included studies, recognised as an efficient approach to updating reviews[15].”
MethodHenriksen, S. R., Christophersen, C., Rosenberg, J., & Fonnes, S. (2023) · Langenbeck s Archives of Surgery · doi:10.1007/s00423-023-02935-z · Cited by 38
“The scientific databases PubMed and Embase were both searched on 18 March 2022, and a snowball search was applied to find relevant articles from the reference lists of included studies [16].”
Bunn, D. K., Hooper, L., & Welch, A. A. (2018) · Geriatrics · doi:10.3390/geriatrics3040077 · Cited by 38
“We followed the framework of Arksey and O’Malley [38] to identify policies, reports and best-practice guidelines for this policy-mapping scoping review, and using snowballing search methods, as these documents are not indexed by standard bibliographic databases [39,40].”
MethodBurggräf, P., Wagner, J., & Heinbach, B. (2021) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2021.3054563 · Cited by 43
“Given that snowball sampling is a powerful data collection tool in systematic reviews which can contribute up to half of the relevant references in a study [50], we applied this sampling technique to the review articles from II-A.”
MethodBose, P., Gao, X. A., Starfield, S., Sun, S., & Ramdani, J. M. (2023) · Language Policy · doi:10.1007/s10993-023-09661-8 · Cited by 37
“…there is a possibility that we may have missed some studies on the topic due to any of several potential reasons, including the non-comprehensiveness of the searched databases and the specificity of the search terms; this is to be expected of any systematic review (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
BackgroundAntiplatelet therapy in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: an updated meta-analysis
Lee, K. S., Lee, C., Dhillon, P. S., Kirollos, R. W., Nga, V. D. W., Yeo, T. T., Henkes, H. H., Arthur, A. S., Yeo, L. L. L., & Bhogal, P. (2023) · Neurosurgical Review · doi:10.1007/s10143-023-02120-2 · Cited by 37
“The reference lists of included studies were also scrutinized to identify relevant studies fitting the inclusion criteria that may have been inadvertently overlooked in our search strategy [18].”
BackgroundWalker, J., Boehnke, J. R., Cerny, T., & Strasser, F. (2009) · Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology · doi:10.1016/j.critrevonc.2009.03.007 · Cited by 37
Use of touchscreen tablet technology by people with dementia in homes: A scoping review
Hitch, D., Swan, J., Pattison, R., & Stefaniak, R. (2017) · Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering · doi:10.1177/2055668317733382 · Cited by 37
“The reference lists of the identified articles were then searched for additional sources, and Google Scholar was used to identify further grey literature, which is a strategy that has been previously found effective in identifying non-randomised evidence.(15) The search was not limited to only health sources, as the u…”
MethodMahieu, L., Cavolo, A., & Gastmans, C. (2018) · Aging & Mental Health · doi:10.1080/13607863.2018.1428938 · Cited by 37
A Holistic View of Data Warehousing in Education
Moscoso-Zea, O., Paredes-Gualtor, J., & Luján‐Mora, S. (2018) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2018.2876753 · Cited by 37
“Furthermore, in this work, we have applied the snowballing technique which consists of the scanning of the reference list from the selected papers to decide and judge if there are valuable papers that can be further reviewed [37].”
MethodFactors influencing implementation of aerobic exercise after stroke: a systematic review
Gaskins, N. J., Bray, E. P., Hill, J. E., Doherty, P., Harrison, A. S., & Connell, L. (2019) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638288.2019.1704075 · Cited by 39
Dougherty, L., Lloyd, J. E., Harris, E., Caffrey, P., & Harris, M. (2020) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05157-x · Cited by 37
Wieckowski, A. T., Flynn, L., Richey, J. A., Gračanin, D., & White, S. W. (2020) · Autism · doi:10.1177/1362361320925334 · Cited by 41
“After the database search, references of all included articles were reviewed for articles that were not identified in the initial database search (cf., snowball search; Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
Arsenic exposures and prostate cancer risk: A multilevel meta-analysis
Yang, Y., McDonald, A. C., Wang, X., Pan, Y., & Wang, M. (2022) · Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology · doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.126992 · Cited by 38
Heywood, S. E., McClelland, J. A., Geigle, P. R., Rahmann, A., & Clark, R. A. (2016) · Gait & Posture · doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2016.04.033 · Cited by 37
Jahangirian, M., Eldabi, T., Garg, L., Jun, G. T., Naseer, A., Patel, B., Stergioulas, L. K., & Young, T. P. (2010) · International Journal of Information Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2010.07.004 · Cited by 37
Adoption of Problem-Based Learning in Medical Schools in Non-Western Countries: A Systematic Review
Chan, S. C. C., Gondhalekar, A. R., Choa, G., & Rashid, A. (2022) · Teaching and Learning in Medicine · doi:10.1080/10401334.2022.2142795 · Cited by 36
“23,24”
Lee, K. S., Chari, A., Motiwala, M., Khan, N. R., Arthur, A. S., & Lawton, M. T. (2024) · World Neurosurgery · doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2024.01.062 · Cited by 36
Risk factors for temporomandibular disorders: a systematic review of cohort studies
Da-Cas, C. D., Valesan, L. F., do Nascimento, L. P., Denardin, A. C. S., Januzzi, E., Fernandes, G., Stuginski‐Barbosa, J., & de Souza, B. D. M. (2024) · Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology and Oral Radiology · doi:10.1016/j.oooo.2024.06.007 · Cited by 36
ARE SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS BETTER, LESS BIASED AND OF HIGHER QUALITY?
Boell, S. K., & Cezec-Kecmanovic, D. (2011) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · Cited by 36
Samargandi, O. A., Hasan, H., & Thoma, A. (2015) · Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery · doi:10.1097/prs.0000000000001898 · Cited by 37
Shemilt, I., Hendry, V., & Marteau, T. M. (2017) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3956-2 · Cited by 34
“There is emerging evidence that less formal approaches, combined with snowball search techniques, can perform effectively as an alternative to protocol-driven searches in reviews of non-clinical interventions [52, 53].”
BackgroundManagers’ Support for Employee Wellness Programs: An Integrative Review
Passey, D., Brown, M. C., Hammerback, K., Harris, J. R., & Hannon, P. A. (2018) · American Journal of Health Promotion · doi:10.1177/0890117118764856 · Cited by 36
The organization of post-disaster psychosocial support in the Netherlands: a meta-synthesis
Jacobs, J., Oosterbeek, M., Tummers, L. G., Noordegraaf, M., Yzermans, J. C., & Dückers, M. (2019) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2018.1544024 · Cited by 43
“Moreover, a comprehensive search strategy was used to identify relevant articles and grey literature on the selected disasters, utilizing systematic search methods and snowballing methodology (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodSmoking does not accelerate leucocyte telomere attrition: a meta-analysis of 18 longitudinal cohorts
Melissa Bateson, B., Aviv, A., Bendix, L., Bénétos, A., Ben‐Shlomo, Y., Bojesen, S. E., Cooper, C. C., Cooper, R., Deary, I. J., Hägg, S., et al. (2019) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.190420 · Cited by 38
Nessel, I., Khashu, M., & Dyall, S. C. (2019) · Prostaglandins Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids · doi:10.1016/j.plefa.2019.07.009 · Cited by 37
Mark, K. (2020) · Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences · doi:10.1111/scs.12829 · Cited by 36
Can we plan for urban cultural ecosystem services?
Tandarić, N., Ives, C. D., & Watkins, C. (2020) · Journal of Urban Ecology · doi:10.1093/jue/juaa016 · Cited by 39
“32) database was used to search the literature, complemented by a snowball method (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005), which enabled reaching more relevant papers.”
MethodAntimicrobial stewardship in hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean: a scoping review
Hegewisch-Taylor, J., Dreser, A., Romero-Mónico, J., & Levy-Hara, G. (2020) · Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública · doi:10.26633/rpsp.2020.68 · Cited by 36
“The snowballing technique (16) was used to extract additional sources within secondary studies (reviews) and surveys.”
MethodSocio-cultural valuation of whale ecosystem services in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland
Malinauskaitė, L., Cook, D., Davíðsdóttir, B., & Ögmundardóttir, H. (2020) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106867 · Cited by 41
Steele, J., Plotkin, D. L., Every, D. W. V., Rosa, A., Zambrano, H., Mendelovits, B., Mercado, M., Grgić, J., & Schoenfeld, B. J. (2021) · Sports · doi:10.3390/sports9110155 · Cited by 39
Puhlmann, N., Olsson, O., & Kümmerer, K. (2022) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154744 · Cited by 35
“To cover a broader part of the literature and not to miss significant literature the back-snowball principle (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005) was applied.”
MethodMasini, A., Ceciliani, A., Dallolio, L., Gori, D., & Marini, S. (2022) · Canadian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.17269/s41997-022-00652-6 · Cited by 36
“Additionally, we manually searched the reference lists of included studies and relevant systematic reviews to identify potentially eligible papers, not captured by the electronic searches, in accordance with the snowball technique (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
MethodThe Role of Artificial Intelligence Model Documentation in Translational Science: Scoping Review
Brereton, T. A., Malik, M. M., Lifson, M. A., Greenwood, J. D., Peterson, K. J., & Overgaard, S. M. (2023) · Interactive Journal of Medical Research · doi:10.2196/45903 · Cited by 46
“Snowball sampling [41] was used to collect materials such as documents from governmental and regulatory agencies not indexed in PubMed and those referenced in the retrieved documents but not explained with sufficient detail or explained with minimal context.”
Reichow, B., Kogan, C. S., Barbui, C., Maggin, D. M., Salomone, E., Smith, I. C., Yasamy, M. T., & Servili, C. (2023) · Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology · doi:10.1111/dmcn.15764 · Cited by 45
“Additionally, we used ‘snowballing’ 25 to identify additional studies by examining the reference lists from key reviews, 5, 18, 19, 26– 33 citations of the studies included, and by searching for studies citing the studies included in the review.”
MethodTrupp, A., Salman, A., Stephenson, M. L., Chan, L., & Gan, J.-E. (2024) · Tourism Planning & Development · doi:10.1080/21568316.2024.2307970 · Cited by 35
“According to Greenhalgh and Peacock (2005), systematic reviews are crucial for future scholars to provide commentary on the findings, test the explanations and evaluate the robustness of particular studies.”
Belabyad, M., Kontovas, C. A., Pyne, R., & Chang, C. (2025) · Maritime Policy & Management · doi:10.1080/03088839.2025.2475177 · Cited by 62
“…we have employed the so-called, snowballing, often called as a ‘chain-referral’ method (Wohlin 2014) which involved going through the reference lists of identified articles, pinpointing and assessing other potential sources that may be pertinent to the research query (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005).”
Refugee migration and service industries: advancing the research agenda
Farmaki, A., & Christou, P. (2018) · Service Industries Journal · doi:10.1080/02642069.2018.1435643 · Cited by 35
“In order to identify relevant published work, we combined a protocol-driven, with a ‘snowballing’ technique (Brown, 2015; Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodKien, C., Schultes, M.-T., Szeląg, M., Schoberberger, R., & Gartlehner, G. (2018) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/s13012-018-0837-3 · Cited by 37
Li, M. Z., & Ryerson, M. S. (2018) · Journal of Air Transport Management · doi:10.1016/j.jairtraman.2018.12.004 · Cited by 35
Aizcorbe-Vicente, J., Peñarrocha‐Oltra, D., Canullo, L., Soto‐Peñaloza, D., & Peñarrocha‐Diago, M. (2020) · The International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants · doi:10.11607/jomi.7259 · Cited by 35
Complementary Feeding in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review
Liotto, N., Cresi, F., Beghetti, I., Roggero, P., Menis, C., Corvaglia, L., Mosca, F., Aceti, A., & on behalf of the Study Group on Neonatal Nutrition and Gastroenterology—Italian Society of Neonatology (2020) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu12061843 · Cited by 35
““Snowballing” technique was also used [8].”
Toward a framework for the design, implementation, and reporting of methodology scoping reviews
Martin, G. P., Jenkins, D. A., Bull, L., Sisk, R., Lijing Lin, A., Hulme, W. J., Wilson, A. J., Wang, W., Barrowman, M., Sammut‐Powell, C., et al. (2020) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.07.014 · Cited by 42
Obrusníková, I., Firkin, C. J., Cavalier, A. R., & Suminski, R. R., Jr. (2021) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638288.2021.1910738 · Cited by 41
“After excluding 171 full-text articles, the reference lists of the remaining 39 articles were screened by one author (CJF) for any additional articles relevant to the topic, as described by Greenhalgh and Peacock [41], which added five articles.”
MethodNicholls, A. R., Fairs, L. R. W., Toner, J., Jones, L., Mantis, K., Barkoukis, V., Perry, J. L., Micle, A. V., Theodorou, N. C., Shakhverdieva, S., et al. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631538 · Cited by 44
“This involved reviewing the references list of included studies for other appropriate articles (Hartley, 1990; Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
MethodInsights from a cross-sector review on how to conceptualise the quality of use of research evidence
Rickinson, M., Cirkony, C., Walsh, L., Gleeson, J., Salisbury, M., & Boaz, A. (2021) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-021-00821-x · Cited by 35
Kim, J., Park, Y., & Ha, C. (2022) · Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery · doi:10.1007/s00402-022-04637-5 · Cited by 34
Paperfetcher : A tool to automate handsearching and citation searching for systematic reviews
Pallath, A., & Zhang, Q. (2022) · Research Synthesis Methods · doi:10.1002/jrsm.1604 · Cited by 45
Best, P., Taylor, B. J., Manktelow, R., & McQuilkin, J. (2014) · Journal of Information Science · doi:10.1177/0165551514521936 · Cited by 36
Product and Organizational Modularity: A Contingent View of the Mirroring Hypothesis
Sorkun, M. F., & Furlan, A. (2016) · European Management Review · doi:10.1111/emre.12101 · Cited by 34
Martins, D. M. L. (2019) · Information Systems · doi:10.1016/j.is.2019.03.002 · Cited by 34
Prevalence of temporomandibular disorders in musicians: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Campos, L. G. N., Pedrosa, B. H., Cavalcanti, R. V. A., Stechman‐Neto, J., Gadotti, I. C., de Araújo, C. M., & Taveira, K. V. M. (2021) · Journal of Oral Rehabilitation · doi:10.1111/joor.13150 · Cited by 34
Gaming-Gambling Convergence: Trends, Emerging Risks, and Legislative Responses
Kolandai‐Matchett, K., & Abbott, M. (2021) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00498-y · Cited by 34
“1), we used an approach recommended for systematic reviews of complex and heterogeneous topics (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005).”
MethodSingh, J., Lanzarini, E., Nardocci, N., & Santosh, P. (2021) · Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences · doi:10.1111/pcn.13299 · Cited by 36
“Snowballing is a useful strategy for extending systematic reviews ensuring the best possible coverage of the literature.(13) To reduce search strategy bias, we used the principles adopted for our previous evidence synthesis.”
MethodVulnerability assessments of mountain forest ecosystems: A global synthesis
Thakur, S., Negi, V. S., Dhyani, R., Satish, K. V., & BHATT, I. D. (2021) · Trees Forests and People · doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2021.100156 · Cited by 39
Bülow, N. S., Holt, M. D., Skouby, S. O., Petersen, K. B., Englund, A. L. M., Pinborg, A. B., & Macklon, N. S. (2021) · Reproductive BioMedicine Online · doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.12.006 · Cited by 34
Gemmell, H. A., & Miller, P. J. (2006) · Chiropractic & Manual Therapies · doi:10.1186/1746-1340-14-7 · Cited by 34
“Greenhalgh and Peacock [ 33 ] suggest that citation tracking is an effective search method for locating papers in obscure journals.”
BackgroundEcological Responses to Flow Alteration: Assessing Causal Relationships with Eco Evidence
Webb, J. A., Nichols, S. J., Norris, R. H., Stewardson, M. J., Wealands, S. R., & Lea, P. (2011) · Wetlands · doi:10.1007/s13157-011-0249-5 · Cited by 34
“Other relevant studies may be identified by reading through bibliographies in papers, talking to colleagues on the subject, or even just chance encounters (Greenhalgh and Peacock 2005).”
BackgroundPearson, M., Moxham, T., & Ashton, K. E. (2011) · Evaluation & the Health Professions · doi:10.1177/0163278710388029 · Cited by 34
“…for locating qualitative research have been developed by identifying terms used in published qualitative studies (e.g., in PsycINFO; McKibbon, Wilczynski, & Haynes, 2006), for complex interventions it is likely to be necessary to marshall a wider range of strategies (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialArntz, F., Mkaouer, B., Markov, A., Schoenfeld, B. J., Moran, J., Ramírez‐Campillo, R., Behrens, M., Baumert, P., Erskine, R. M., Hauser, L., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.888464 · Cited by 33
“In addition, corresponding metaanalyses, as well as studies that were eligible for inclusion, were searched for additional publications in so-called “snowball” searches (Greenhalgh and Peacock, 2005).”
BackgroundDonti, Ο., Konrad, A., Panidi, I., Dinas, P. C., & Bogdanis, G. C. (2022) · Sports Medicine - Open · doi:10.1186/s40798-022-00476-1 · Cited by 33
“Additional records that were not picked up in systematic searches were identified through: (1) searching the reference lists of original studies and some related study reviews, (2) examining the reference citations and the researchers’ publications, (3) contacting by email the corresponding authors (if they were not d…”
MethodSundaram, G., & Berleant, D. (2023) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-981-99-3243-6_7 · Cited by 40
Rooney, M. K., Andring, L. M., Corrigan, K. L., Bernard, V., Williamson, T. D., Fuller, C. D., Garden, A. S., Gunn, G. B., Lee, A., Moreno, A. C., et al. (2023) · Cancers · doi:10.3390/cancers15174321 · Cited by 33
Prognostic factors for falls in Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review
Murueta‐Goyena, A., Muiño, O., & Gómez‐Esteban, J. C. (2023) · Acta Neurologica Belgica · doi:10.1007/s13760-023-02428-2 · Cited by 33
“The search included articles from database inception to 15 th August 2023, with additional articles identified from reference checking [15].”
MethodNuzzo, J. L., & Pinto, M. D. (2025) · European Journal of Sport Science · doi:10.1002/ejsc.12282 · Cited by 46
“The search strategy was similar to that described by Greenhalgh and Peacock (2005).”
Shakespear-Druery, J., Cocker, K. A. D., Biddle, S., Gavilán‐Carrera, B., Segura‐Jiménez, V., & Bennie, J. A. (2021) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106566 · Cited by 36
A Theoretical Framework for Studying Teachers’ Curriculum Supplementation
Silver, D. (2021) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543211063930 · Cited by 33
“After this initial screening, I performed a “snowballing” search of the reference sections of articles retained after screening (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005), this time relaxing the restriction that articles be published in 2015 or later.”
MethodRobinson, K. A., Dunn, A. G., Tsafnat, G., & Glasziou, P. (2014) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.11.015 · Cited by 33
Egan, M., MacLean, A., Sweeting, H. N., & Hunt, K. (2012) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001043 · Cited by 33
Boulton, O., & Farquharson, B. (2023) · International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances · doi:10.1016/j.ijnsa.2023.100164 · Cited by 39
Kuipers, P., Wirz, S., & Hartley, S. D. (2008) · BMC International Health and Human Rights · doi:10.1186/1472-698x-8-3 · Cited by 32
Perspectives on corporate responsibility and sustainable development
Swanson, L. A., & Zhang, D. D. (2012) · Management of Environmental Quality An International Journal · doi:10.1108/14777831211262918 · Cited by 32
A consolidated view of context for intelligent systems
Bauer, C., & Novotny, A. (2017) · Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments · doi:10.3233/ais-170445 · Cited by 32
“As suggested in the literature [8,28], we performed a multistep procedure to identify relevant context models in existing research.”
Parental Disclosure of ASD Diagnosis to the Child: A Systematic Review
Smith, I. C., Edelstein, J. A., Cox, B. E., & White, S. W. (2018) · Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health · doi:10.1080/23794925.2018.1435319 · Cited by 35
“To identify additional articles, a “snowball” search was conducted using Google Scholar (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005).”
MethodExplaining variations in test ordering in primary care: protocol for a realist review
Duddy, C., & Wong, G. (2018) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023117 · Cited by 33
Chandna, K., Vine, M. M., Snelling, S. J., Harris, R., Smylie, J. K., & Manson, H. E. (2019) · Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation · doi:10.3138/cjpe.43050 · Cited by 32
A CRITICAL REVIEW OF COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN CITIES
Markanday, A., Galarraga, I., & Markandya, A. (2019) · Climate Change Economics · doi:10.1142/s2010007819500143 · Cited by 37
A critique of the progress of eTourism technology acceptance research: time for a hike?
Pourfakhimi, S., Duncan, T., & Coetzee, W. J. L. (2019) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology · doi:10.1108/jhtt-08-2018-0077 · Cited by 37
Acosta, S. T., Garza, T., Hsu, H.-Y. M., Goodson, P., Padrón, Y. N., Goltz, H. H., & Johnston, A. (2019) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-019-09511-2 · Cited by 38
Hur, J. H., Snyder, P., & Reichow, B. (2020) · Topics in Early Childhood Special Education · doi:10.1177/0271121419894623 · Cited by 32
“After the electronic database search, we used snowball methods (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005) to locate additional studies.”
MethodRamspott, J. P., Jäger, T., Lechner, M., Schredl, P., Gabersek, A., Mayer, F., Emmanuel, K., & Regenbogen, S. (2021) · Hernia · doi:10.1007/s10029-021-02445-1 · Cited by 32
Lee, K. S., Zhang, J. J. Y., Kirollos, R. W., Santarius, T., Nga, V. D. W., & Yeo, T. T. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05773-z · Cited by 34
Open preperitoneal groin hernia repair with mesh: A qualitative systematic review
Andresen, K., & Rosenberg, J. (2017) · The American Journal of Surgery · doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2017.01.014 · Cited by 33
Zhou, Q., Dekkers, R., & Chia, R. (2023) · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122592 · Cited by 36
Song, J., Reilly, M., & Reichow, B. (2024) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/s10803-023-06198-x · Cited by 30
“We also used snowball methods (Greenhalgh & Peacock, 2005) to review the reference lists of all included reviews and Google Scholar to conduct a forward search of articles that cited included reviews.”
Bentley, M., Stirling, C., Robinson, A., & Minstrell, M. (2016) · Journal of Advanced Nursing · doi:10.1111/jan.12929 · Cited by 31
“…(1) protocol-driven (electronic database search, hand search of selected journals); (2) ‘snowballing’ (reference list searches and citation tracking); and (3) personal knowledge (sources known to research team, social networks of researchers and collaborators) (Greenhalgh & Peacock 2005).”
BackgroundMarriage after the transition to stroke: a systematic review
Anderson, S. D., & Keating, N. C. (2017) · Ageing and Society · doi:10.1017/s0144686x17000526 · Cited by 31
Does reduced mastication influence cognitive and systemic health during aging?
Miquel, S., Aspiras, M., & Day, J. E. L. (2018) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.02.018 · Cited by 31
de Toledo, I. P., Pantoja, L. L. Q., Luchesi, K. F., Assad, D. X., Canto, G. D. L., & Guerra, E. N. S. (2019) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-019-04920-z · Cited by 31
Bellos, I., Frountzas, M., & Pergialiotis, V. (2020) · Transfusion Medicine Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.tmrv.2020.07.002 · Cited by 35
Burcharth, J., Falkenberg, A., Schack, A. E., Ekeloef, S., & Gögenür, I. (2021) · Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2021.02.050 · Cited by 31
Clinical and operational insights from data-driven care pathway mapping: a systematic review
Manktelow, M., Iftikhar, A., Bucholc, M., McCann, M., & O’Kane, M. (2022) · BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · doi:10.1186/s12911-022-01756-2 · Cited by 34
“It has been proposed by Greenhalgh and Peacock [23] that in systematic reviews of complex or heterogeneous evidence in the field of health services research, “snow-ball” methods of forward (citation) and backwards (reference) searching are especially powerful.”
BackgroundThe Professional Identity of Social Workers in Mental Health Services: A Scoping Review
Bark, H., Dixon, J., & Laing, J. M. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20115947 · Cited by 31
“’s [27] discussion on reflexive supplementary approaches to keyword searches, with a ‘snowballing’ strategy adopted to also include relevant papers found in the reference lists of screened papers [28].”
BackgroundKühne, F., Ehmcke, R., Härter, M. C., & Kriston, L. (2015) · Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice · doi:10.1111/jep.12384 · Cited by 34
Danielsen, A. K., Burcharth, J., & Rosenberg, J. (2013) · International Journal of Colorectal Disease · doi:10.1007/s00384-013-1749-y · Cited by 31
“To supply the strategic search, manual reference searches were done, as not all relevant studies would be returned only relying on search terms [20].”
BackgroundEmergent and Surgical Interventions for Injuries Associated With Eroticism: a Review
Yacobi, Y., Tsivian, A., & Sidi, A. A. (2007) · The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care · doi:10.1097/ta.0b013e3180341f8f · Cited by 31
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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