title: A Systematic Review of Research Guidelines in Decision-Analytic Modeling.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Decision-analytic modeling (DAM) has been increasingly used to aid decision making in health care. The growing use of modeling in economic evaluations has led to increased scrutiny of the methods used.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review to identify and critically assess good practice guidelines, with particular emphasis on contemporary developments.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of English language articles was undertaken to identify articles presenting guidance for good practice in DAM in the evaluation of health care. The inclusion criteria were articles providing guidance or criteria against which to assess good practice in DAM and studies providing criteria or elements for good practice in some areas of DAM. The review covered the period January 1990 to March 2014 and included the following electronic bibliographic databases: Cochrane Library, Cochrane Methodology Register and Health Technology Assessment, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, MEDLINE, and PubMed (Embase). Additional studies were identified by searching references.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-three articles were included in this review. A practical five-dimension framework was developed that describe the key elements of good research practice that should be considered and reported to increase the credibility of results obtained from DAM in the evaluation of health care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is the first to critically review all available guidelines and statements of good practice in DAM since 2006. The development of good practice guidelines is an ongoing process, and important efforts have been made to identify what is good practice and to keep these guidelines up to date.
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina Peñaloza
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. Electronic address: P.M.Barton@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Pelham
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jowett
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Unit, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew John
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D017408:Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*
keywords: decision-analytic modeling; good practice; guidelines; methods; modeling