Abstract
BACKGROUND: Problems continue to exist with the reporting quality and risk of bias in search methods and strategies in systematic reviews and related review types. Peer reviewers who are not familiar with what is required to transparently and fully report a search may not be prepared to review the search components of systematic reviews, nor may they know what is likely to introduce bias into a search. Librarians and information specialists, who have expertise in searching, may offer specialized knowledge that would help improve systematic review search reporting and lessen risk of bias, but they are underutilized as methodological peer reviewers.
METHODS: This study will evaluate the effect of adding librarians and information specialists as methodological peer reviewers on the quality of search reporting and risk of bias in systematic review searches. The study will be a pragmatic randomized controlled trial using 150 systematic review manuscripts submitted to BMJ and BMJ Open as the unit of randomization. Manuscripts that report on completed systematic reviews and related review types and have been sent for peer review are eligible. For each manuscript randomized to the intervention, a librarian/information specialist will be invited as an additional peer reviewer using standard practices for each journal. First revision manuscripts will be assessed in duplicate for reporting quality and risk of bias, using adherence to 4 items from PRISMA-S and assessors' judgements on 4 signaling questions from ROBIS Domain 2, respectively. Identifying information from the manuscripts will be removed prior to assessment.
DISCUSSION: The primary outcomes for this study are quality of reporting as indicated by differences in the proportion of adequately reported searches in first revision manuscripts between intervention and control groups and risk of bias as indicated by differences in the proportions of first revision manuscripts with high, low, and unclear bias. If the intervention demonstrates an effect on search reporting or bias, this may indicate a need for journal editors to work with librarians and information specialists as methodological peer reviewers.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework. Registered on June 17, 2021, at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/W4CK2 .
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 791 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Trials |
| Volume | 22 |
| Early online date | 11 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
© 2021. The Author(s).Funding
We thank R. Harmstrom for her time and efforts as the patient/public member of our team. MLR conceived the study idea. MLR, SS, LMB, and MPZ designed the study. SS provided expertise on coordination with journals in the study. MLR, JJK, and MPZ were responsible for the statistical analysis design and conduct. MLR and SS will be responsible for data collection and management. APA will be one of the outcome assessors. MLR wrote the first draft of the study protocol. MLR, SS, LMB, MPZ, APA, JJK, and DM contributed to and approved the study protocol. No specific funding was received for this study. It is part of MLR’s self-funded PhD project registered at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, in collaboration with the British Medical Journal , UK. Data from the journals’ editorial systems will be extracted (by MLR) and maintained on a secure, password-protected Google Drive folder hosted at the BMJ Publishing Group. The folder will be accessible only to MLR and SS; Google Drive complies with all General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. Assessors will access the anonymized study manuscripts through a separate secure, password-protected Google Drive folder hosted at the BMJ Publishing Group. Data collected from the assessors will be collected and stored using a Google Drive folder hosted at the BMJ Publishing Group to facilitate resolution of outcome assessment conflicts between assessors. Derived/aggregated anonymized data will be shared with the research community upon completion of the research using a publicly accessible data repository.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Health and Medical Research Council | 1002028 |
| UK Research and Innovation | MR/S014357/1 |
Keywords
- Humans
- Information Services
- Librarians
- Peer Review
- Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
- Research Report