Search terms are usually derived from key concepts in the review question and from the inclusion and exclusion criteria that are specified in the research protocol, or the question being asked by the review team.

It is important to find all the relevant keywords for the topic to ensure the search is comprehensive by identifying

• different spellings, tenses and word variants of keywords
• synonyms
• related concepts

There are many  ways to locate these terms, including background reading, dictionaries, regular and database thesauri or subject headings and text mining tools. The process of searching will also help identify more terms.

Keywords will be searched for in the title or abstract of the records in the database. They are often truncated

- For example, a search for therap* to find therapy, therapies, therapist.

They might also use wildcards to allow for spelling variants and plurals

- For example, wom#n to find woman and women.

Note: The symbols used to perform truncation and wildcard searches can vary from database to database, so it's always best to check the 'Search Help' option within each of the databases that you're using.

Note: It's also worth nothing that some databases may limit the number of search terms and truncations that can be used in any given search

- Using index terms (also know as controlled vocabulary) such as MeSH and Emtree in a health sciences related search can improve performance. Subject experts in your group should work through databases and tag each record with subject terms from a prespecified controlled vocabulary.

- This indexing can save your systematic review team a lot of time that would otherwise be spent sifting through irrelevant records.

- Using index terms in your search, for example, can help you find the records that are specifically related to the topic of interest (tagged with the index term) but ignore those that contain only a brief mention of it (not tagged with the index term).

- Check to see if the database that you're using uses controlled vocabulary (subject headings), examples. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) in Medline Complete and APA PsycArticles.

- Check your search terms to see if they have a corresponding control term and add them to your search strategy. You will need to use both keywords and controlled vocabulary to be thorough when searching.

Note: The Columbia University Health Sciences Library provides a very useful guide to the use of Control Terms when searching. View the full guide here.

- Please remember that different databases have their own index terms / controlled vocabulary, which means that you will need to remap your terms as you switch between databases. See the Transforming Searches between Databases in the Search Strategy Section for more details on controlled vocabulary in a number of our databases.

"Look at the help screens on the database you are using to work out the best strategy. Keep a record of the searches you run on each database to help you develop your search and to include in your write up. If you are doing a systematic review for publication your strategies need to be clearly and accurately recorded so that someone else could reproduce them"

( University of Reading, Apr 18, 2023, URL: https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/systematic-review )

- It's generally not a good idea to rely on index terms by themselves. By doing this, you could miss a relevant record. Good search strategies normally include both index terms and keywords.

- Records containing Key Words and records containing Index Terms will help you to find more Relevant Records.

- The three most commonly used operators are AND, OR, NOT.

- These are known as Boolean operators. They can be used to broaden or narrow a search and to exclude unwanted search terms and concepts.

Example 1. Antidepressant drugs OR antidepressive agents

Example 2. Eating disorders AND cognitive therapy

Note: "The NOT operator should be avoided where possible to avoid the danger of inadvertently removing from the search set records that are relevant. For example, when searching for records indexed as female, 'NOT male' would remove any record that was about both males and females."

Excerpt from Cochrane Handbook for systematic reviews of interventions Section 6.4.7 Boolean operators

Always document your search strategy as you develop it. This will prevent confusion when you start searching. You may find it helpful to use the following blank Word document template to help plan your search strategy.

Note: Always visit the Search Help option in each database to view detailed instructions on the most effective ways to search and retrieve results.

Each database is different and has its own set of tools and features. If you are using truncation, wildcards or phrase searching you might need to adapt your search to ensure it works correctly on that particular database. The factsheet below highlights the key differences between several of our main databases, explains the variations in controlled vocabulary, and outlines how to save search strategies and download results.

Always visit the Search Help option in each database to view detailed instructions on the most effective ways to search and retrieve results

It is recommended by Cochrane that the primary rapid review search strategy should be peer reviewed using the PRESS checklist when possible. PRESS stands for the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies. Research indicates that using a structured tool like the PRESS 2015 Guideline to peer review electronic literature search strategies can improve both the quality and thoroughness of the search.

PRESS 2015 Evidence-Based Checklist

Updated PRESS Guideline. Table 9 from: PRESS – Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 Guideline Explanation and Elaboration (PRESS E&E). Ottawa: CADTH; 2016 Jan.

Rapid reviews typically involve searching fewer databases compared to systematic reviews. Instead of covering all relevant databases, searches often focus on just two or three. 

Selecting sources to search

The database selection will depend on the research question and the discipline in which relevant research may be conducted. Here is a full list of all MTU library databases across all disciplines, which will help you find source material for your rapid review.

Examples of Database Sources for Health Related disciplines

Examples of Database Sources for Humanistic Social Sciences

View MTU Library's full list of online databases to see what resources are most applicable to your Rapid Review.

Rapid reviews generally exclude grey literature unless the topic necessitates it, such as guidelines or policy-related subjects.

Even when grey literature is included, follow-ups with authors to obtain missing or incomplete data are rare.

Grey literature can be defined as "an important primary source of information and is published in diverse formats and levels. It includes various information resources that are either unpublished or published in non-commercial form. Grey literature is mainly produced and published by government agencies, research and development institutions, organizations and associations. The literature produced by these bodies is available in the form of articles, reports, working papers, newsletters, government documents, speeches/lectures, white papers, plans, fact sheets, maps, newsletters, policy documents, conference proceedings, theses/dissertations and other formats" (O'Connor, S, & Gupta, D. 2021 p.69)

Grey literature refers to materials and research produced by organizations outside of the traditional commercial or academic publishing and distribution channels. Common grey literature publication types include Reports (annual, research, technical, project, etc.), Working Papers, Government Documents and White Papers.

Organizations that produce grey literature include government departments and agencies, civil society or non-governmental organizations, academic centres and departments, and private companies and consultants.

Handsearching is not always included in a rapid review. Some reviews may only involve checking reference lists rather than conducting more extensive handsearching activities.

'Hand searching refers to 'a manual page-by-page examination of the entire contents of a journal issue or conference proceedings to identify all eligible reports of trials' (Cochrane Manual, section 1.3. 1 Handsearching).

Managing Search Results in Databases

Databases offer various tools to help organize and track new literature effectively.

• Accounts: Set up a personal account in databases to access advanced features. This account is separate from your MTU login. Visit MTU Library's Creating Personal Database Account guide for more details
• Saving Searches: Save searches that yield relevant results to your database account. This allows you to record your search strategy and retrieve it later.
• Alerts : Set up search alerts to receive notifications when new relevant studies are added to the database.

Keep a search log of your Searches 

Use a spreadsheet or Word table to track each search in the Databases. You should note the Database name, the full search string, number of results retrieved and notes on any changes or filters. This is essential for transparency and for your PRISMA. You may find it helpful to use the following blank Excel spreadsheet template to help log your searches.

Bibliographic Reference Managers

Referencing software will save you a lot of time when carrying out your Review.  Programs like Endnote, Zotero or Mendeley will store and organize the citations collected throughout the review process. They will also allow you to de-duplicate the results and automatically format in-text citations and bibliographies for your final report.

Other suitable Referencing software can of course be used for citation management during your review.

Note: Search results will likely be needed to be exported to either/both selection software or referencing software. As well as that each library database may set it's own limits on how many citations can be exported at any one time, so if you have a large number of results, you may need to export all results in stages.

Visit MTU Library's Guide to Referencing Software for a useful overview of these free Referencing software programs.