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Adherence to literature search reporting guidelines in leading rheumatology journals’ systematic reviews: umbrella review protocol

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Abstract

Literature searches are important components of systematic reviews. They are not only informative of the retrieval process, but they also set the data to be analyzed and influence additional components of systematic reviews. Despite the available guidelines, several studies have shown that the quality of reporting in systematic reviews is deficient in several medical fields. Systematic reviews may not comply completely with those guidelines despite explicitly stating they do. This protocol intends to answer to what extent systematic reviews published in rheumatology journals have complied with the PRISMA’s search strategy guidelines published in 2009. The objective of the study is to analyze the compliance with the PRISMA (2009) search strategy guidelines among systematic reviews published in leading rheumatology journals. Inclusion criteria for this umbrella review protocol are systematic reviews (with or without meta-analyses) that mention having followed the PRISMA statement (2009) in their methods section, and published in journals listed in the Rheumatology category of the Journal of Citations Report 2020. Exclusion criteria are articles published before 2009; retraction letters, notes, expressions of concern; systematic reviews using PRISMA 2020. Databases to be consulted are Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus, from inception to present. Data summaries will be presented in graphs, figures, tables and network maps. A narrative synthesis will be described. This protocol complies with guidelines such as PRISMA 2020, PRISMA-A, PRISMA-P, PRISMA-S, PRESS, and JBI Manual for evidence synthesis, as long as it is suitable for umbrella review protocols. Articles in any language will be considered.

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Funding

This protocol did not receive funding from any entity.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Iván Pérez-Neri and Carlos Pineda have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Manuel Velasco Suárez, Insurgentes Sur 3877; La Fama, Tlalpan., Ciudad de México, 14269, México

    Iván Pérez-Neri

  2. General Directorate, National Institute of Rehabilitation Luis Guillermo Ibarra Ibarra, Calzada Mexico- Xochimilco 289; Arenal de Guadalupe, Ciudad de México, 14389, México

    Carlos Pineda & Hugo Sandoval

  3. University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713 GZ, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Jose L. Flores-Guerrero

  4. Escola Superior de Saúde da Universidade Do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139, Faro, Portugal

    M. Dulce Estêvão

  5. Physiotherapy Unit, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Christian Medical College, Vellore, 632004, India

    Lenny T. Vasanthan

  6. Department of Psychobiology and Methodology in Health Sciences, Faculty of Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain

    Sonia Lorente

  7. Pediatric Department, Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa (CST), Terrassa, Spain

    Sonia Lorente

  8. Facultad de Medicina. Benemérita, Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Calle 13 Sur # 2702, Los Volcanes, Puebla, Pue, C.P, 72410, México

    Renato García-González

  9. Viswabharathi Medical College, Kurnool, 518463, India

    Vighnesh Devulapalli

  10. School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Ishanka Weerasekara

  11. Programa de Pós-Graduação Em Ciência Cirúrgica Interdisciplinar, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil

    Débora Regina de Aguiar

  12. Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Escuela de Medicina, Universidad César Vallejo, Trujillo, Perú

    Shamir Barros-Sevillano

  13. Health Economic Divisions, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Mebourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia

    Long Khanh-Dao Le

Authors
  1. Iván Pérez-Neri
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  2. Carlos Pineda
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  3. Jose L. Flores-Guerrero
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  4. M. Dulce Estêvão
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  5. Lenny T. Vasanthan
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  6. Sonia Lorente
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  7. Renato García-González
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  8. Vighnesh Devulapalli
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  9. Ishanka Weerasekara
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  10. Débora Regina de Aguiar
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  11. Shamir Barros-Sevillano
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  12. Long Khanh-Dao Le
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  13. Hugo Sandoval
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Contributions

IPN provided methodological expertise and contributed in designing protocol’s methodology (including the search strategy), coordinating co-author’s participation and activities, correcting and approving the final draft, documenting and implementing possible future protocol amendments. CP provided topic expertise and contributed supervising the reviewer team, revising and approving protocol’s methodology and final draft. JLFG, MDE, LTV, SL, RGG, VD, IW, DRA, and SBS provided methodological expertise, contributed revising, correcting, and approving the final draft. LK-DL contributed to revising, correcting, and approving the protocol. HS provided methodological expertise, and contributed with the original idea, concept, and design of the study, drafting the manuscript, revising, correcting and approving protocol’s methodology and final draft, including peer-reviewing the search strategy, and is the guarantor of the review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugo Sandoval.

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Pérez-Neri, I., Pineda, C., Flores-Guerrero, J.L. et al. Adherence to literature search reporting guidelines in leading rheumatology journals’ systematic reviews: umbrella review protocol. Rheumatol Int 42, 2135–2140 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-022-05194-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-022-05194-1

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