title: Reporting quality of search methods in systematic reviews of HIV behavioral interventions (2000-2010): are the searches clearly explained, systematic and reproducible?
abstract: Systematic reviews are an essential tool for researchers, prevention providers and policy makers who want to remain current with the evidence in the field. Systematic review must adhere to strict standards, as the results can provide a more objective appraisal of evidence for making scientific decisions than traditional narrative reviews. An integral component of a systematic review is the development and execution of a comprehensive systematic search to collect available and relevant information. A number of reporting guidelines have been developed to ensure quality publications of systematic reviews. These guidelines provide the essential elements to include in the review process and report in the final publication for complete transparency. We identified the common elements of reporting guidelines and examined the reporting quality of search methods in HIV behavioral intervention literature. Consistent with the findings from previous evaluations of reporting search methods of systematic reviews in other fields, our review shows a lack of full and transparent reporting within systematic reviews even though a plethora of guidelines exist. This review underscores the need for promoting the completeness of and adherence to transparent systematic search reporting within systematic reviews.
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Julia B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: DeLuca
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Crepaz
authors.affiliation: Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lyles
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D057225:Data Mining / Q000592:standards*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D058028:Research Report / Q000592:standards*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
keywords: literature review; meta-analysis; reproducibility of results; search reporting; systematic review; systematic search