Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: The Embase project aims to identify all reports of randomised trials and feed those into Cochrane’s Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL). During 2011, 2012 and 2013 a backlog of records to screen had built up. To tackle the backlog in a time efficient way two methods were employed: 1) a small team of screeners were assigned to focus on these records; and 2) a citation screening challenge was organised.
Objectives: The main objective of the citation screening challenge was to screen as many citations as possible within a 48-hour period.
Methods: A challenge crowd was recruited in the weeks before the event. Backlog records were loaded into a copy of the online citation screening tool. The 48-hour period began on 31 October and finished on 2 November. The event was a fundraiser, with a micro amount set for each citation collectively screened. The proceeds were to go to Médecins Sans Frontières for the Ebola relief effort.
Results: A total of 75 people from 20 countries took part and 20,709 citations were screened in a 48-hour period; 1713 RCTs/q-RCTs were identified and GBP 5177.25 was raised for the Ebola relief effort. The challenge crowd screened over twice as many records in the final 24 hours of the challenge compared to the first 24 hours. An evaluation of challenge crowd accuracy is underway and will be presented. In an after-challenge questionnaire completed by 84% of participants, 95% said they would take part in another challenge.
Conclusions: The 48-hour citation screening challenge was the first of its kind and proved an incredibly effective and fun method to help to screen a large number of citations in a very short space of time.
Objectives: The main objective of the citation screening challenge was to screen as many citations as possible within a 48-hour period.
Methods: A challenge crowd was recruited in the weeks before the event. Backlog records were loaded into a copy of the online citation screening tool. The 48-hour period began on 31 October and finished on 2 November. The event was a fundraiser, with a micro amount set for each citation collectively screened. The proceeds were to go to Médecins Sans Frontières for the Ebola relief effort.
Results: A total of 75 people from 20 countries took part and 20,709 citations were screened in a 48-hour period; 1713 RCTs/q-RCTs were identified and GBP 5177.25 was raised for the Ebola relief effort. The challenge crowd screened over twice as many records in the final 24 hours of the challenge compared to the first 24 hours. An evaluation of challenge crowd accuracy is underway and will be presented. In an after-challenge questionnaire completed by 84% of participants, 95% said they would take part in another challenge.
Conclusions: The 48-hour citation screening challenge was the first of its kind and proved an incredibly effective and fun method to help to screen a large number of citations in a very short space of time.