title: Time relevance, citation of reporting guidelines, and breadth of literature search in systematic reviews in orthodontics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As the importance of systematic review (SR) conclusions relies upon the scientific rigor of methods and the currency of evidence, we aimed to investigate the currency of orthodontic SRs using as proxy the time from the initial search to publication. Additionally, SR information regarding reporting guidelines, registration, and literature searches were recorded when available.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic PubMed search was carried out using the Clinical Queries page to identify orthodontic SRs cited between 1 January 2008 and 7 November 2013. Data related to reporting guidelines, review registration, dates of review processing, literature search, and abstract reporting were retrieved and classified by journal type. Survival analysis was used to assess the time to reach predefined manuscript stages for orthodontic and non-orthodontic journals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred twenty seven of the originally identified 585 SRs were considered eligible. The median interval from search until publication was 13.2 months (interquartile range: IQR = 9.7 months) irrespective of the journal type. There was evidence (P = 0.05) that SRs published by non-orthodontic journals appeared in PubMed faster than in orthodontic journals (non-orthodontic: median = 6.5 months; IQR = 5.7 months; orthodontic: median = 10.2 months; IQR = 5.6 months) from submission to publication and from acceptance to publication (non-orthodontic: median = 1.5 months; IQR = 2.4 months; orthodontic: median = 6.0 months; IQR = 6.2 months; P < 0.001). More than half of these SRs did not cite adherence to any reporting guidelines, whereas all but five studies were not prospectively registered. Search of unpublished research was undertaken in approximately 21 per cent and 29 per cent of the SRs published in non-orthodontic and orthodontic periodicals, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that SR users should be aware that median time for orthodontic SRs from search to publication is 13.2 months. SRs published in non-orthodontic journals are likely to be more current in terms of submission until time to publication and acceptance until time to publication compared with those published in orthodontic journals.
authors: *Department of Orthodontics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands, c.livas@umcg.nl.
authors: Christos
authors: C
authors: Livas
authors: **Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, University of Bern, Switzerland and ***Private Practice, Corfu, Greece.
authors: Nikolaos
authors: N
authors: Pandis
authors: *Department of Orthodontics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Yijin
authors: Y
authors: Ren
mesh_terms: D015706:Bibliometrics; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009970:Orthodontics; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013997:Time Factors