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According to the Cochrane handbook, at least the databases Embase, Medline (e.g. via Medline/Ovid or PubMed) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (TRIALS) must be searched for relevant literature (1).
Depending on the investigated topic, specialised databases (e.g. Cinahl for nursing, PsycINFO for psychological interventions, AMED for complementary medicine, BIOSIS for life sciences, Pedro for physiotherapy) or interdisciplinary databases or search engines (Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, Google Scholar) should be added. Our experience shows that further relevant references can be located in Web of Science as well as in Scopus (2). Here you can find an overview of the medical databases licensed by the UZH.
Additionally, clinical trials can be identified in registries such as clinicaltrials.gov or the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP).
Reports, dissertations, conference abstracts (=grey literature (3)) and other reviews on the same topic (4) are also considered relevant sources of information. Besides, it is important to search the reference lists of articles included in the own as well as in reviews conducted by others.
It has been shown that the combination of searching databases, scanning references lists and contacting experts in the field has been most efficient for identifying the relevant references, while only searching Medline would be inadequate (5).
The main library offers consultations on literature searching (without charge) or conducts a systematic literature search for you (with costs).
References
- Lefebvre C, Glanville J, Briscoe S, Littlewood A, Marshall C, Metzendorf M-I, Noel-Storr A, Rader T, Shokraneh F, Thomas J, Wieland LS. Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies. Draft version (29 January 2019) for inclusion in: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. London: Cochrane.
- Klein SD, Gosteli-Peter MA. Which databases are worth searching for systematic reviews? Poster presented at European Association of Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) Workshop; 19th June 2019; Basel.
- Bonato S. Searching the grey literature: a handbook for searching reports, working papers, and other unpublished research. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield; 2018.
- Arber M, Glanville J, Isojarvi J, Baragula E, Edwards M, Shaw A, Wood H. Which databases should be used to identify studies for systematic reviews of economic evaluations? Int J Technol Assess Health Care 2018;34(6):547-554.
- Stevinson C, Lawlor DA. Searching multiple databases for systematic reviews: added value or diminishing returns? Complement Ther Med 2004;12(4):228-232.