Article type
Abstract
"Background: The number of published systematic reviews has increased substantially in recent years, leading to the development of overviews of reviews (or umbrella reviews). However, including multiple systematic reviews on a similar topic could lead to the same primary study being considered more than once (overlap), leading to overestimation of sample sizes and events. Therefore, it is important to investigate how many primary studies overlap across the systematic reviews included in an overview. There are a variety of ways to investigate the degree of overlap, although most of these require reviewers to tabulate publication details of included primary studies for comparison. However, this process can be time consuming, thus it is important to consider whether it could be quicker and more efficient.
Objectives: To investigate the impact on time and accuracy of manual versus Web of Science-based tabulation of included studies for determining overlap in overviews of reviews.
Methods: Manual tabulation requires the extraction of publication details from included study tables and/or the reference lists of systematic reviews manually, while Web of Science has a functionality to download reference lists of selected publications. For this study within a review (SWAR), two reviewers will independently extract primary study details into MS Excel from the same systematic reviews both manually and via Web of Science. Study details will include: authors, publication date, title, and journal. The time it takes to complete the tabulation of all included study details of each systematic review will be recorded. The accuracy of tabulation will also be measured. Time and accuracy outcomes for each reviewer and each method of tabulation will be analysed and compared descriptively. This project is registered at the SWAR Repository (SWAR 27). Manual and Web of Science based tabulation will be conducted in the context of an overview of reviews of multimodal cancer prehabilitation (PROSPERO: CRD42024511601).
Conclusion: With the increasing demand for timely evidence synthesis products for decision making, particularly rapid reviews, there is a need for time efficient review methods. The results of this SWAR can help identify whether the process of included study tabulation for determining overlap can be speeded up.
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Objectives: To investigate the impact on time and accuracy of manual versus Web of Science-based tabulation of included studies for determining overlap in overviews of reviews.
Methods: Manual tabulation requires the extraction of publication details from included study tables and/or the reference lists of systematic reviews manually, while Web of Science has a functionality to download reference lists of selected publications. For this study within a review (SWAR), two reviewers will independently extract primary study details into MS Excel from the same systematic reviews both manually and via Web of Science. Study details will include: authors, publication date, title, and journal. The time it takes to complete the tabulation of all included study details of each systematic review will be recorded. The accuracy of tabulation will also be measured. Time and accuracy outcomes for each reviewer and each method of tabulation will be analysed and compared descriptively. This project is registered at the SWAR Repository (SWAR 27). Manual and Web of Science based tabulation will be conducted in the context of an overview of reviews of multimodal cancer prehabilitation (PROSPERO: CRD42024511601).
Conclusion: With the increasing demand for timely evidence synthesis products for decision making, particularly rapid reviews, there is a need for time efficient review methods. The results of this SWAR can help identify whether the process of included study tabulation for determining overlap can be speeded up.
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