Background: Clinical Evidence (CE) is a long running product from BMJ Group, which has been providing systematic overviews of the best available research evidence on selected interventions for numerous medical conditions for over 10 years. During this time CE has developed from print only, to CD-ROM and on to its current online format and has had a number of changes in process over this time period - one such component being the approach taken to searching the literature.
Objectives: To reflect on how the literature searching function has developed over time to support the production of CE – specifically its progress from bespoke searches, to a broad multi-product, condition-level approach, and currently, to its ongoing return to specific intervention-based search strategies.
Methods: A personal perspective, considering the advantages and disadvantages of the searching approaches that have been applied, the resources that have been utilised, the constraints and limitations that have been negotiated and how we continue to strive to get the balance right, in order to provide the quality of search required to support an evidence-based, regularly updated, commercial product.
Results and Conclusions: There has been a great deal of change over the lifetime of CE and different methods have been applied to try to maintain quality whilst expanding, enhancing and developing a useful and relevant product for end users. Whilst the results and conclusions are not yet formulated, I would hope that the insight into the approaches that we have undertaken will provide some interesting observations, different ideas, and perhaps stimulate some discussion amongst other information professionals about how to deliver pragmatic searches for continually evolving products.