A systematic review (SR) provides the best and most objective analysis of the existing evidence in a particular field. SRs and derived conclusions are essential for evidence-based strategies in medicine and evidence-based guidelines in clinical practice. The popularity of SRs has also increased markedly in the field of hepatology. However, although SRs are considered to provide a higher level of evidence with greater confidence than original articles, there have been no reports on the quality of SRs and meta-analyses (MAs) in the field of hepatology. Therefore, we performed a quality assessment of 225 SRs and MAs that were recently published in the field of hepatology (January 2011 to September 2014) using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). Using AMSTAR, we revealed both a shortage of assessments of the scientific quality of individual studies and a publication bias in many SRs and MAs. This review addresses the concern that SRs and MAs need to be conducted in a stricter and more objective manner to minimize bias and random errors. Thus, SRs and MAs should be supported by a multi-disciplinary approach that includes clinical experts, methodologists, and statisticians.
*Gastroenterology ; Humans ; *Meta-Analysis as Topic ; *Publication Bias ; *Review Literature as Topic

The concept of meta-epidemiology has been introduced with considering the methodological limitations of systematic review for intervention trials. The paradigm of meta-epidemiology has shifted from a statistical method into a new methodology to close gaps between evidence and practice. Main interest of meta-epidemiology is to control potential biases in previous quantitative systematic reviews and draw appropriate evidences for establishing evidence-base guidelines. Nowadays, the network meta-epidemiology was suggested in order to overcome some limitations of meta-epidemiology. To activate meta-epidemiologic studies, implementation of tools for risk of bias and reporting guidelines such as the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) should be done.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Epidemiology ; Meta-Analysis as Topic ; Review Literature as Topic

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review the articles and theses on the patient safety culture of clinical nurses for identifying overall research trends regarding patient safety culture among hospital nurses, and to suggest strategies for improving nursing work environment related to patient safety culture. METHODS: The subjects for this study were 17 articles selected according to inclusion criteria from five databases in Korea. RESULTS: Seven articles were collected from nursing journals and ten from master's theses. The studies on the 17 articles were conducted at 66 hospitals from seven regions of Korea. The tools for patient safety culture were selected among the three tools from AHRQ and two Korean translation tools. The mean score of patient safety culture was 3.43. CONCLUSION: The findings from the article review indicate that, in order to improve nursing work environment for patient safety culture, the hospital and nursing manager should emphasize the education for patient safety, communication and open-minded reporting, and cooperation among the departments of hospital.
Education ; Korea ; Nursing* ; Patient Safety* ; Review Literature as Topic

By searching the registry information of systematic review regarding acupuncture included before March 31, 2014 in PROSPERO systematic review registry platform, information in the project plan such as care gories of diseases, interventions, research team and the completion status was analyzed to make a comprehensive understanding on registry status of acupuncture systematic review in this platform. As a result, a total of 52 project plans was finally included. The health problem concerned was mainly painrelated diseases, and the interventions were mostly simple acupuncture or combination of acupuncture and moxibustion. The registered plan participated with Chinese team appeared comparatively late, which was featured with fewer independent projects and concentrated research organization, so its scientific research advantage in acupuncture did not present. In conclusion, it is believed that the consciousness on systematic review registry in domestic researchers needs to be improved, and researchers might take good advantages of the PROSPERO platform in the future.
Acupuncture Therapy ; Databases, Factual ; Humans ; Registries ; Review Literature as Topic

Currently, the number of systematic reviews on Chinese medicine (CM) increases gradually. However, the quality of the reviews varied, which resulted in great limitations in guiding clinical practice. This article refers to the Cochrane Handbook and PRISMA Statement to introduce the reporting specification of the systematic review, including asking a research question, review methods, presentation of the results, discussion and conclusion. We analyzed the methodology issues in the published systematic reviews on CM in order to improve the quality of future reviews.
Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Research Design ; Review Literature as Topic ; Writing ; standards

The burgeoning wealth of available scientific information – aided in part by (a) expansion in the definition of “literature”, (b) dramatic increase in the scientific output available for the scientific community's perusal, and (c) ease of access afforded by various databases and search engines – poses several challenges to researchers and to the credibility of their research findings. One method to discourage reference to “fraudulent, incomplete, or obsolete data” in the literature is citations searching. This paper presented a short overview of citations searching, its advantages and disadvantages, as well as its implications for stakeholders in the academic community.
Information Storage and Retrieval ; Research Design ; Review Literature as Topic

Correspondence as Topic ; Editorial Policies ; Humans ; Journal Impact Factor ; Journalism, Medical ; Periodicals as Topic ; Review Literature as Topic ; Writing

Any kind of clinical study can supply clinical decision-making with useful information when they are designed and reported properly. However, results with bias or mistake can misguide doctors' decisions, if trials with poor design quality were reported wrongly. Therefore, researchers should report trials accurately and critically, so that the quality of trials could reach a high level and get trustworthy results. This article made an overview of many kinds of reporting standards about systematic reviews and all kinds of trials. We hope these international published standards could be helpful for Chinese medicine researchers in their practice.
Biomedical Research ; standards ; Clinical Trials as Topic ; Consensus Development Conferences as Topic ; Humans ; Review Literature as Topic

Scoping reviews are a useful approach to synthesizing research evidence although the objectives and methods are different to that of systematic reviews, yet some confusion persists around how to plan and prepare so that a completed scoping review complies with best practice in methods and meets international standards for reporting criteria. This paper describes how to use available guidance to ensure a scoping review project meets global standards, has transparency of methods and promotes readability though the use of innovative approaches to data analysis and presentation. We address some of the common issues such as which projects are more suited to systematic reviews, how to avoid an inadequate search and/or poorly reported search strategy, poorly described methods and lack of transparency, and the issue of how to plan and present results that are clear, visually compelling and accessible to readers. Effective pre-planning, adhering to protocol and detailed consideration of how the results data will be communicated to the readership are critical. The aim of this article is to provide clarity about what is meant by conceptual clarity and how pre-planning enables review authors to produce scoping reviews which are of high quality, reliability and readily publishable.
Comprehension ; Evidence-Based Practice ; Methods ; Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Review Literature as Topic ; Statistics as Topic

In recent years, there has been a great increase in production of systematic reviews of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM). However,some researchers indicated that their methodology and reporting quality were unsatisfactory. This article offered some recommendations for performing high-quality systematic reviews of TCM.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; standards ; Meta-Analysis as Topic ; Publications ; standards ; Quality Control ; Review Literature as Topic