The comparative recall of Google Scholar versus PubMed in identical searches for biomedical systematic reviews: a review of searches used in systematic reviews

Systematic Reviews
Wichor M BramerPf Anderson

Abstract

The usefulness of Google Scholar (GS) as a bibliographic database for biomedical systematic review (SR) searching is a subject of current interest and debate in research circles. Recent research has suggested GS might even be used alone in SR searching. This assertion is challenged here by testing whether GS can locate all studies included in 21 previously published SRs. Second, it examines the recall of GS, taking into account the maximum number of items that can be viewed, and tests whether more complete searches created by an information specialist will improve recall compared to the searches used in the 21 published SRs. The authors identified 21 biomedical SRs that had used GS and PubMed as information sources and reported their use of identical, reproducible search strategies in both databases. These search strategies were rerun in GS and PubMed, and analyzed as to their coverage and recall. Efforts were made to improve searches that underperformed in each database. GS' overall coverage was higher than PubMed (98% versus 91%) and overall recall is higher in GS: 80% of the references included in the 21 SRs were returned by the original searches in GS versus 68% in PubMed. Only 72% of the included references could be used a...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Nov 8, 2015·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology·Jochen W L Cals, Daniel Kotz
Mar 16, 2016·Journal of Clinical Epidemiology·Margaret SampsonKaveh Shojania
May 10, 2016·International Journal of Mental Health Nursing·Brenda HappellRobert Stanton
Sep 28, 2016·BMC Medical Research Methodology·Lisa HartlingBen Vandermeer
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Oct 28, 2017·Drugs·Jianyuan DengTai Ning Lam
May 28, 2019·Research Synthesis Methods·Simon BriscoeMorwenna Rogers
Aug 10, 2017·Systematic Reviews·Rosie Hanneke, Sabrina K Young
Jul 29, 2020·Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis·Jennifer N Haddock, Louis P Hagopian
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Jun 23, 2021·Journal of Critical Care·Jessica BuninLara Varpio
May 21, 2019·Journal of Surgical Education·Cory McLaughlinAaron R Jensen

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Software Mentioned

Word
PubMed Clipboard
Google Scholar
PubMed
Google Reader
Embase
Zotero
GS
Google Scholar ( GS

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