Meta-analyses

Handsearching is a critical part of the review to find materials not found through traditional searches. It is a manual process to examine and identify further relevant studies and includes:

• Perusing the pages of key journals, conferences and other sources
• Checking reference lists of identified articles and documents

Why is it important?

• Not all databases index items comprehensively. This may be because not all information is included in records or because not all content of the journal is indexed.
• Searches may not be comprehensive enough or may not include relevant key terms.
• Authors may not have described articles accurately with key terms used.
• Allows more detailed scanning of key journals and other sources.
• Some sources are not included in traditional databases.
• Ensures that relevant studies are not overlooked.

For more information about handsearching see:

Cited reference searching is part of the handsearching process

• Check the reference lists of useful articles to find older articles relating to the topic.
• Check citing articles to find more recent articles that cite useful articles to find more recent sources.

Databases for cited reference searching that have both these features include:

Finding review articles on similar topics will also be useful to find more relevant authors and papers 

• Check databases for limits to restrict results to 'reviews' using limiters such as publication type or document type.
• Check the Advanced Search screen for limiting options.