Journal requirements for reporting systematic review searching: a survey of author instructions

Abstract

Introduction: To use systematic reviews to inform clinical guidelines, the methodology needs to be conducted and reported in an open and reproducible manner. Studies show that reporting of literature searches is poor despite that there are reporting guidelines. This survey investigates which requirements on systematic review searching journals include in their author instructions. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted. The sample consist of 179 medical journals. The journals´ author instructions were reviewed and any information regarding requirements for reporting literature searches was collected and categorized. Results: Of the 179 journals, 54% included instructions on how to report systematic review searches; by the use of established reporting guidelines (48%), mostly PRISMA, or journal specific requirements (24%). 6% of the journals rely only on journal specific requirements. The most requested reporting items are 1) Search strategy should be reported (14%), 2) Databases/ information-/ data sources (12%) and 3) Describe search methods/ process (9%). Discussion: Reporting items in journal specific requirements are reflecting the content of established reporting guidelines. There are some additional reporting items not covered by the reporting guidelines. To a great extent, in journals recommending reporting guidelines, the journals specific requirements included are overlapping with the content of the recommended reporting guidelines. Journals only relying on journal specific requirements, have few and vague reporting items