Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews

Objectives: To determine whether librarian and information specialist authorship was associated with better reported systematic review (SR) search quality. Study Design and Setting: SRs from high-impact general internal medicine journals were reviewed for search quality characteristics and reporting quality by independent reviewers using three instruments, including a checklist of Institute of Medicine Recommended Standards for the Search Process and a scored modification of the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies instrument. Results: The level of librarian and information specialist participation was significantly associated with search reproducibility from reported search strategies (X-2 = 23.5; P < 0.0001). Librarian co-authored SRs had significantly higher odds of meeting 8 of 13 analyzed search standards than those with no librarian participation and six more than those with mentioned librarian participation. One-way ANOVA showed that differences in total search quality scores between all three groups were statistically significant (F-2.267 = 10.1233; P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Problems remain with SR search quality and reporting. SRs with librarian or information specialist co-authors are correlated with significantly higher quality reported search strategies. To minimize bias in SRs, authors and editors could encourage librarian engagement in SRs including authorship as a potential way to help improve documentation of the search strategy. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.