08.04.2021
A Prospective Comparison of Evidence Synthesis Search Strategies Developed With and Without Text-Mining Tools
« (…) In an era of explosive growth in biomedical evidence, improving systematic review (SR) search processes is increasingly critical. Text-mining tools (TMTs) are a potentially powerful resource to improve and streamline search strategy development.
The objectives of this study were to compare the benefits and trade-offs of searches with and without the use of TMTs for evidence synthesis products in real world settings. Specific questions included: (1) Do TMTs decrease the time spent developing search strategies? (2) How do TMTs affect the sensitivity and yield of searches? (3) Do TMTs identify groups of records that can be safely excluded in the search evaluation step? (4) Does the complexity of a systematic review topic affect TMT performance? In addition to quantitative data, we collected librarians’ comments on their experiences using TMTs to explore when and how these new tools may be useful in systematic review search creation. (…) »
