title: Getting to grips with systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
abstract: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses now form a major source of evidence on clinical effectiveness. Despite the relative recency of this approach to synthesizing research findings, a reasonable consensus has emerged as to the desirable methodological characteristics of this secondary research. Understanding these basic tenets enables readers to take a balanced view of published review findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, University of St Andrews, Fife.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: I K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Crombie
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012107:Research Design; D012196:Review Literature as Topic