Surveying the traumatic stress literature: the effective use of bibliographic databases in preparing reviews and meta-analyses.
The value of a systematic review or meta-analysis depends upon the care with which it is designed and conducted. A major factor in this is the literature search that identifies the articles to be reviewed. Careful selection of bibliographic databases and the use of well-designed search strategies based on the controlled vocabularies contained in published thesauri are essential to ensure retrieval of all relevant articles. This commentary offers suggestions for identifying the literature to be searched, designing a suitable search strategy, using a controlled vocabulary, and describing the bibliographic methodology underlying a systematic review or meta-analysis.
Lerner
Fred
F
National Center for PTSD and Dartmouth Medical School, White River Junction, VA Medical Center, VT, USA. Fred.Lerner@dartmouth.edu
Hamblen
Jessica L
JL
D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods*; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology*