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<input type="checkbox" aria-label="Include MeSH and other data" name="include-supplemental" id="email-include-supplemental" class="email-include-supplemental">
<label for="email-include-supplemental" class="email-include-supplemental-label">MeSH and other data</label>
</div>
<div class="form-field recaptcha ">
<div class="g-recaptcha" id="id-recaptcha" data-sitekey="6LfsWHMdAAAAAClKbtOpjQ2pMjgsGxvv7NdZW9uI"></div>
</div>
<div id="captcha-error-message" class="usa-input-error-message captcha-validation-message" role="alert"></div>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Sending..."
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="email"
data-ga-label="send">
Send email
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Email citations' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_email_panel"
aria-controls="email-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="email"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
<input type="hidden" name="email-search-details" value="" />
<input type="hidden" name="email-search-details-hash" value="0e42663a6c3bd85498fcb88798998fed7bfdc45d457db35281e41afe13cc0524" />
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="collections-action-panel"
class="collections-action-panel action-panel in-progress-dots-panel"
aria-hidden="true"
data-collections-open-panel-enabled="false"
data-collections-open-panel-url-hash="#open-collections-panel">
<div class="inner-wrap">
<h3 class="action-panel-heading">
Add to Collections
</h3>
<form id="collections-action-panel-form"
class="collections-action-panel-form action-panel-content action-form action-panel-smaller-selectors"
data-existing-collections-url="/list-existing-collections/"
data-add-to-existing-collection-url="/add-to-existing-collection/"
data-create-and-add-to-new-collection-url="/create-and-add-to-new-collection/"
data-get-article-ids-by-search-url="/get-article-ids-by-search/"
data-myncbi-max-collection-name-length="100"
data-add-to-collection-max-amount="1000"
data-collections-root-url="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/">
<input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd">
<div class="choice-group" role="radiogroup">
<ul class="radio-group-items">
<li>
<input type="radio"
id="collections-action-panel-new"
class="collections-new"
name="collections"
value="new"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="collections"
data-ga-label="collections_radio_new">
<label for="collections-action-panel-new">Create a new collection</label>
</li>
<li>
<input type="radio"
id="collections-action-panel-existing"
class="collections-existing"
name="collections"
value="existing"
checked="true"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="collections"
data-ga-label="collections_radio_existing">
<label for="collections-action-panel-existing">Add to an existing collection</label>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="controls-wrapper">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap new-collections-controls">
<label for="collections-action-panel-add-to-new" class="action-panel-label required-field-asterisk">
Name your collection:
</label>
<input
type="text"
name="add-to-new-collection"
id="collections-action-panel-add-to-new"
class="collections-action-add-to-new"
pattern="[^&quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;\/]*" title="The following characters are not allowed in the Name field: &quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;/"
maxlength="100"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="create_collection"
data-ga-label="non_favorties_collection">
<div class="collections-new-name-too-long usa-input-error-message selection-validation-message">
Name must be less than 100 characters
</div>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap existing-collections-controls">
<label for="collections-action-panel-add-to-existing" class="action-panel-label">
Choose a collection:
</label>
<select id="collections-action-panel-add-to-existing"
class="action-panel-selector collections-action-add-to-existing"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="select_collection"
data-ga-label="($('#collections-action-add-to-existing').val() === 'Favorites') ? 'Favorites' : 'non_favorites_collection'">
</select>
<div class="collections-retry-load-on-error usa-input-error-message selection-validation-message">
Unable to load your collection due to an error<br>
<a href="#">Please try again</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Adding..."
data-pinger-ignore
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="collections"
data-ga-label="add">
Add
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Add to Collections' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_collections_panel"
aria-controls="collections-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="collections"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="bibliography-action-panel"
class="bibliography-action-panel action-panel in-progress-dots-panel"
aria-hidden="true"
data-bibliography-open-panel-enabled="false"
data-bibliography-open-panel-url-hash="#open-bibliography-panel">
<div class="inner-wrap">
<h3 class="action-panel-heading">
Add to My Bibliography
</h3>
<form id="bibliography-action-panel-form"
class="bibliography-action-panel-form action-panel-content action-form action-panel-smaller-selectors"
data-add-to-bibliography-max-amount="100"
data-add-to-bibliography-batch-size="10"
data-bibliography-delegates-url="/list-bibliography-delegates/"
data-add-to-bibliography-url="/add-to-bibliography/"
data-get-article-ids-by-search-url="/get-article-ids-by-search/"
data-mybib-root-url="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/mybibliography/">
<input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap bibliographies-controls">
<div class="choice-group">
<ul class="bibliographies-action-add radio-group-items">
<li>
<input name="bibliography" id="my-bibliography" class="my-bibliography" type="radio" checked/>
<label for="my-bibliography">My Bibliography</label>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="bibliographies-retry-load-on-error usa-input-error-message selection-validation-message">
Unable to load your delegates due to an error<br>
<a href="#">Please try again</a>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Adding..."
data-pinger-ignore>
Add
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Add to bibliography' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_bibliography_panel"
aria-controls="bibliography-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="mybib"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="saved-search-action-panel" class="saved-search-action-panel action-panel " aria-hidden="true"
data-saved-search-open-panel-enabled="false"
data-saved-search-open-panel-url-hash="#open-saved-search-panel">
<div class="inner-wrap">
<h2 class="action-panel-heading">
Your saved search
</h2>
<form id="saved-search-action-panel-form"
class="saved-search-action-panel-form action-panel-content action-form"
data-create-saved-search-url="/create-saved-search/"
data-try-search-terms-url="/try-search-term/"
data-saved-search-root-url="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/searches/">
<input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label for="saved-search-name" class="action-panel-label saved-search-name-label required-field-asterisk">
Name of saved search:
</label>
<input maxlength="200"
type="text"
name="saved-search-name"
id="saved-search-name"
class="saved-search-name"
value=""
required
pattern="[^&quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;\/]*" title="The following characters are not allowed in the Name field: &quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;/">
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label for="saved-search-term" class="action-panel-label required-field-asterisk">
Search terms:
</label>
<textarea name="saved-search-term" id="saved-search-term" class="saved-search-term" required></textarea>
</div>
<div class="test-search-term-wrap">
<a href="#" class="try-search-term">Test search terms</a>
</div>
<div class="choice-group action-panel-extra-margin-top">
<span class="action-panel-label" id="fieldset-label">
Would you like email updates of new search results?
</span>
<fieldset id="saved-search-alert" aria-describedby="fieldset-label">
<legend class="usa-sr-only">Saved Search Alert Radio Buttons</legend>
<ul class="radio-group-items">
<li>
<input type="radio" id="saved-search-alert-yes" class="saved-search-alert-yes" name="saved-search-alert" value="yes" checked>
<label for="saved-search-alert-yes" class="action-panel-label">Yes</label>
</li>
<li>
<input aria-label="No radio input" type="radio" id="saved-search-alert-no" class="saved-search-alert-no" name="saved-search-alert" value="no">
<label for="saved-search-alert-no" class="action-panel-label">No</label>
</li>
</ul>
</fieldset>
</div>
<div class="alert-schedule-wrap">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label class="action-panel-label">
Email:
</label>
<span aria-label="Email address" id="saved-search-email" class="action-panel-label"><span class="action-panel-label-bold"></span> (<a class="myncbi-account-settings" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/account/settings/">change</a>)</span>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap action-panel-extra-margin-top">
<label for="saved-search-frequency" class="action-panel-label">
Frequency:
</label>
<select id="saved-search-frequency" class="no-border-panel-selector saved-search-frequency">
<option value="monthly">Monthly</option>
<option value="weekly">Weekly</option>
<option value="daily">Daily</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap saved-search-monthly-additional">
<label for="saved-search-monthly-on-day" class="action-panel-label">
Which day?
</label>
<select id="saved-search-monthly-on-day" class="no-border-panel-selector">
<option value="Sunday">The first Sunday</option>
<option value="Monday">The first Monday</option>
<option value="Tuesday">The first Tuesday</option>
<option value="Wednesday">The first Wednesday</option>
<option value="Thursday">The first Thursday</option>
<option value="Friday">The first Friday</option>
<option value="Saturday">The first Saturday</option>
<option value="day">The first day</option>
<option value="weekday">The first weekday</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap saved-search-weekly-additional">
<label for="saved-search-weekly-on-day" class="action-panel-label">
Which day?
</label>
<select id="saved-search-weekly-on-day" class="no-border-panel-selector saved-search-weekly-on-day">
<option value="Sunday">Sunday</option>
<option value="Monday">Monday</option>
<option value="Tuesday">Tuesday</option>
<option value="Wednesday">Wednesday</option>
<option value="Thursday">Thursday</option>
<option value="Friday">Friday</option>
<option value="Saturday">Saturday</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label for="saved-search-report" class="action-panel-label">
Report format:
</label>
<select id="saved-search-report" class="no-border-panel-selector saved-search-report">
<option value="DocSum">Summary</option>
<option value="DocSumText">Summary (text)</option>
<option value="Abstract">Abstract</option>
<option value="AbstractText">Abstract (text)</option>
<option value="MEDLINE">PubMed</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label for="saved-search-amount" class="action-panel-label">
Send at most:
</label>
<select id="saved-search-amount" class="no-border-panel-selector saved-search-amount">
<option value="1">1 item</option>
<option value="5" selected>5 items</option>
<option value="10">10 items</option>
<option value="20">20 items</option>
<option value="50">50 items</option>
<option value="100">100 items</option>
<option value="200">200 items</option>
</select>
</div>
<div>
<input type="checkbox" id="saved-search-send-if-no-result" class="saved-search-send-if-no-result" name="saved-search-send-if-no-result">
<label for="saved-search-send-if-no-result" class="action-panel-label smaller-checkbox">
Send even when there aren't any new results
</label>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap option-text-in-email-wrap">
<label for="saved-search-email-text" class="action-panel-label">
Optional text in email:
</label>
<textarea name="saved-search-email-text"
id="saved-search-email-text"
class="saved-search-email-text"></textarea>
</div>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Saving..."
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="alert"
data-ga-label="save">
Save
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Your saved search' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_saved_search_panel"
aria-controls="saved-search-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="alert"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="citation-manager-action-panel" class="citation-manager-action-panel action-panel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="inner-wrap">
<h2 class="action-panel-heading">
Create a file for external citation management software
</h2>
<form id="citation-manager-action-panel-form"
class="action-panel-content action-form"
action="/results-export-ids/"
data-by-search-action="/results-export-search-data/"
data-by-ids-action="/results-export-ids/"
method="post"
data-by-search-method="post"
data-by-ids-method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd">
<input name="results-format" type="hidden" value="pubmed"/>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Sending..."
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="citation_manager"
data-ga-label="save">
Create file
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Send citations to citation manager' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_citation_manager_panel"
aria-controls="citation-manager-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="citation_manager"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
<div id="rss-action-panel" class="rss-action-panel action-panel " aria-hidden="true">
<div class="inner-wrap">
<h2 class="action-panel-heading">
Your RSS Feed
</h2>
<form id="rss-action-panel-form"
class="rss-action-panel-form action-panel-content action-form"
data-create-rss-feed-url="/create-rss-feed-url/"
data-search-form-term-value="">
<input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap">
<label for="rss-name" class="action-panel-label required-field-asterisk">
Name of RSS Feed:
</label>
<input maxlength="200"
placeholder="Name"
type="text"
name="rss-name"
id="rss-name"
class="rss-name"
value=''
required
pattern="[^&quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;\/]*" title="The following characters are not allowed in the Name field: &quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;/">
</div>
<div class="rss-limit-wrap">
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap action-panel-extra-margin-top">
<label for="rss-limit" class="action-panel-label">
Number of items displayed:
</label>
<select id="rss-limit" class="no-border-panel-selector rss-limit">
<option value="5">5</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="15" selected="selected">15</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="50">50</option>
<option value="100">100</option>
</select>
</div>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-actions">
<button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
data-loading-label="Creating..."
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="alert"
data-ga-label="save">
Create RSS
</button>
<button class="action-panel-cancel"
aria-label="Close 'Your RSS' panel"
ref="linksrc=close_rss_panel"
aria-controls="rss-action-panel"
aria-expanded="false"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="alert"
data-ga-label="cancel">
Cancel
</button>
</div>
<div class="action-panel-control-wrap rss-link-copy-wrap">
<label for="rss-link" class="usa-sr-only">RSS Link</label>
<input placeholder="Your RSS Feed Link" type="text" name="rss-link" id="rss-link" class="rss-link" title="RSS Link">
<button
type="button"
disabled
class="rss-link-copy-button disabled"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="rss"
data-ga-label="copy">
Copy
</button>
</div>
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-page" id="article-page" data-article-pmid="27218655">
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<div class="full-text-links">
<div class="full-view">
<h3 class="title">
Full text links
</h3>
<div class="full-text-links-list">
<a class="link-item
dialog-focus"
href="https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002028"
target="_blank"
rel="noopener"
ref="linksrc=fulltextorjournal_fulltext&amp;is_pmc=False&amp;PrId=4656&amp;itool=Abstract-def&amp;log$=linkouticon&amp;uid=27218655&amp;db=pubmed&amp;nlmid=101231360"
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pmc
"
href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/pmid/27218655/"
target="_blank"
rel="noopener"
ref="linksrc=fulltextorjournal_fulltext&amp;is_pmc=True&amp;PrId=3494&amp;itool=Abstract-def&amp;log$=linkouticon&amp;uid=27218655&amp;db=pubmed&amp;nlmid=101231360"
title="Free full text at PubMed Central"
data-ga-category="full_text"
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Free PMC article
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<a href="#" class="full-text-links-button full-text-links-dialog-trigger">
Full text links
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="actions-buttons sidebar"><h3 class="title">Actions</h3><div class="inner-wrap"><button class="citation-button citation-dialog-trigger"
aria-label="Open dialog with citation text in different styles"
data-ga-category="save_share"
data-ga-action="cite"
data-ga-label="open"
data-all-citations-url="/27218655/citations/"
data-citation-style="nlm"
data-pubmed-format-link="/27218655/export/"><span class="button-label">Cite</span></button><link type="text/css" href="ncbi-overlay-block/src/overlay-block.css"><div class="collections-button-container" data-article-id="27218655" data-article-db="pubmed"><button class="collections-button collections-dialog-trigger"
aria-label="Save article in MyNCBI collections."
data-ga-category="collections_button"
data-ga-action="click"
data-ga-label="collections_button"
data-collections-open-dialog-enabled="false"
data-collections-open-dialog-url="https://account.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?back_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2F27218655%2F%23open-collections-dialog"
data-in-collections="false"><span class="button-label">Collections</span></button><div class="overlay" role="dialog"><div id="collections-action-dialog"
class="dialog collections-dialog"
aria-hidden="true"><div class="title">Add to Collections</div><div class="collections-action-panel action-panel"><form id="collections-action-dialog-form"
class="collections-action-panel-form action-panel-content action-form action-panel-smaller-selectors"
data-existing-collections-url="/list-existing-collections/"
data-add-to-existing-collection-url="/add-to-existing-collection/"
data-create-and-add-to-new-collection-url="/create-and-add-to-new-collection/"
data-myncbi-max-collection-name-length="100"
data-collections-root-url="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/"><input type="hidden" name="csrfmiddlewaretoken" value="E7ZYrfuy1SfulCESvHMhLE7ZDzzegLFTVUJ345XUBt2Yf3KI80pjfMDDbDhq9mdd"><div class="choice-group" role="radiogroup"><ul class="radio-group-items"><li><input type="radio"
id="collections-action-dialog-new"
class="collections-new"
name="collections"
value="new"
data-ga-category="collections_button"
data-ga-action="click"
data-ga-label="collections_radio_new"><label for="collections-action-dialog-new">Create a new collection</label></li><li><input type="radio"
id="collections-action-dialog-existing"
class="collections-existing"
name="collections"
value="existing"
checked="true"
data-ga-category="collections_button"
data-ga-action="click"
data-ga-label="collections_radio_existing"><label for="collections-action-dialog-existing">Add to an existing collection</label></li></ul></div><div class="controls-wrapper"><div class="action-panel-control-wrap new-collections-controls"><label for="collections-action-dialog-add-to-new" class="action-panel-label required-field-asterisk">
Name your collection:
</label><input
type="text"
name="add-to-new-collection"
id="collections-action-dialog-add-to-new"
class="collections-action-add-to-new"
pattern="[^&quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;\/]*" title="The following characters are not allowed in the Name field: &quot;&amp;=&lt;&gt;/"
maxlength="100"
data-ga-category="collections_button"
data-ga-action="create_collection"
data-ga-label="non_favorties_collection"><div class="collections-new-name-too-long usa-input-error-message selection-validation-message">
Name must be less than 100 characters
</div></div><div class="action-panel-control-wrap existing-collections-controls"><label for="collections-action-dialog-add-to-existing" class="action-panel-label">
Choose a collection:
</label><select id="collections-action-dialog-add-to-existing"
class="action-panel-selector collections-action-add-to-existing"
data-ga-category="collections_button"
data-ga-action="select_collection"
data-ga-label="($('.collections-action-add-to-existing').val() === 'Favorites') ? 'Favorites' : 'non_favorites_collection'"></select><div class="collections-retry-load-on-error usa-input-error-message selection-validation-message">
Unable to load your collection due to an error<br><a href="#">Please try again</a></div></div></div><div class="action-panel-actions"><button class="action-panel-submit"
type="submit"
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<h1 class="heading-title">
Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews of Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Study
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Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews of Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Study
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doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002028.
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eCollection 2016 May.
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<span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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1
</a><span class="author-sup-separator">&nbsp;</span><a class="affiliation-link" title="School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom." href="#short-view-affiliation-2" ref="linksrc=author_aff">
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a><span class="author-sup-separator">&nbsp;</span><a class="affiliation-link" title="School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada." href="#short-view-affiliation-4" ref="linksrc=author_aff">
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a><span class="author-sup-separator">&nbsp;</span><a class="affiliation-link" title="Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada." href="#short-view-affiliation-8" ref="linksrc=author_aff">
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a><span class="author-sup-separator">&nbsp;</span><a class="affiliation-link" title="Department of Medicine, University of Valencia/INCLIVA Health Research Institute and Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental, Valencia, Spain." href="#short-view-affiliation-9" ref="linksrc=author_aff">
9
</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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12
</a></sup><span class="comma">,&nbsp;</span></span><span class="authors-list-item "><a class="full-name"
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</a><span class="author-sup-separator">&nbsp;</span><a class="affiliation-link" title="School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada." href="#short-view-affiliation-4" ref="linksrc=author_aff">
4
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Affiliations
</h3>
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<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-1"
id="short-view-affiliation-1"
><sup class="key">1</sup> School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-2"
id="short-view-affiliation-2"
><sup class="key">2</sup> School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-3"
id="short-view-affiliation-3"
><sup class="key">3</sup> Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-4"
id="short-view-affiliation-4"
><sup class="key">4</sup> School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-5"
id="short-view-affiliation-5"
><sup class="key">5</sup> Centre for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-6"
id="short-view-affiliation-6"
><sup class="key">6</sup> Children&#x27;s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-7"
id="short-view-affiliation-7"
><sup class="key">7</sup> Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael&#x27;s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-8"
id="short-view-affiliation-8"
><sup class="key">8</sup> Epidemiology Division, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-9"
id="short-view-affiliation-9"
><sup class="key">9</sup> Department of Medicine, University of Valencia/INCLIVA Health Research Institute and Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental, Valencia, Spain.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-10"
id="short-view-affiliation-10"
><sup class="key">10</sup> First Clinical College, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-11"
id="short-view-affiliation-11"
><sup class="key">11</sup> Department of Pharmacy, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.</li>
<li data-affiliation-id="short-view-affiliation-12"
id="short-view-affiliation-12"
><sup class="key">12</sup> Graduate Program in Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.</li>
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Abstract
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<p>
<strong class="sub-title">
Background:
</strong>
Systematic reviews (SRs) can help decision makers interpret the deluge of published biomedical literature. However, a SR may be of limited use if the methods used to conduct the SR are flawed, and reporting of the SR is incomplete. To our knowledge, since 2004 there has been no cross-sectional study of the prevalence, focus, and completeness of reporting of SRs across different specialties. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate the epidemiological and reporting characteristics of a more recent cross-section of SRs.
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Methods and findings:
</strong>
We searched MEDLINE to identify potentially eligible SRs indexed during the month of February 2014. Citations were screened using prespecified eligibility criteria. Epidemiological and reporting characteristics of a random sample of 300 SRs were extracted by one reviewer, with a 10% sample extracted in duplicate. We compared characteristics of Cochrane versus non-Cochrane reviews, and the 2014 sample of SRs versus a 2004 sample of SRs. We identified 682 SRs, suggesting that more than 8,000 SRs are being indexed in MEDLINE annually, corresponding to a 3-fold increase over the last decade. The majority of SRs addressed a therapeutic question and were conducted by authors based in China, the UK, or the US; they included a median of 15 studies involving 2,072 participants. Meta-analysis was performed in 63% of SRs, mostly using standard pairwise methods. Study risk of bias/quality assessment was performed in 70% of SRs but was rarely incorporated into the analysis (16%). Few SRs (7%) searched sources of unpublished data, and the risk of publication bias was considered in less than half of SRs. Reporting quality was highly variable; at least a third of SRs did not report use of a SR protocol, eligibility criteria relating to publication status, years of coverage of the search, a full Boolean search logic for at least one database, methods for data extraction, methods for study risk of bias assessment, a primary outcome, an abstract conclusion that incorporated study limitations, or the funding source of the SR. Cochrane SRs, which accounted for 15% of the sample, had more complete reporting than all other types of SRs. Reporting has generally improved since 2004, but remains suboptimal for many characteristics.
</p>
<p>
<strong class="sub-title">
Conclusions:
</strong>
An increasing number of SRs are being published, and many are poorly conducted and reported. Strategies are needed to help reduce this avoidable waste in research.
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<p xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:p1="http://pubmed.gov/pub-one">I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: MJP is a research fellow for the Australasian Cochrane Centre. ACT and FCL are authors of three of the systematic reviews included in this study, but were not involved in eligibility assessment or data extraction. DM is a member of <italic>PLOS Medicine</italic>s editorial board.</p>
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<p> Fig 1. Flow diagram of identification, screening,… </p>
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<p> Fig 1. Flow diagram of identification, screening, and inclusion of SRs. </p>
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Fig 1. Flow diagram of identification, screening, and inclusion of SRs.
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<p> Fig 2. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and type of SR: Cochrane versus… </p>
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Fig 2. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and type of SR: Cochrane versus non-Cochrane therapeutic SRs.
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<p> Fig 3. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and self-reported use of PRISMA in… </p>
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Fig 3. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and self-reported use of PRISMA in non-Cochrane therapeutic SRs.
</strong>
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<p> Fig 4. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and year: 2004 versus 2014. </p>
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Fig 4. Unadjusted risk ratio associations between reporting characteristics and year: 2004 versus 2014.
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