Investigating Systematic Reviewers’ Practices: Survey on Hand Searching, Citation Chasing, and Screening Tool Adoption in Education

• In Event: Methodological Innovations for Conducting Research Syntheses

Abstract

This study investigates the utilization and preferences of tools for searching and screening in systematic reviews. Through a global survey, we collected 175 valid responses. The findings reveal that manual handsearching remains prevalent among over half of the participants. Databases are recognized as the most popular tools for citation searching, while citation management tools and spreadsheets are commonly employed for screening. The primary factor influencing tool selection is ease of use, and barriers to adopting alternative tools include limited awareness, challenges in learning new tools, and the financial costs associated with acquiring licenses. Moreover, researchers from Europe and North America exhibit greater familiarity with a wider range of tools compared to their counterparts from Australia and Asia.

Authors

• Qiyang Zhang, Johns Hopkins University

• Marta Pellegrini, University of Cagliari

• Francesco Marsili, Università degli studi di Perugia