Abstract
Fifty reviews published during June 1985 to June 1986 in four major medical journals were assessed in a study of the methods of current review articles. Assessments were based on eight explicit criteria adapted from published guidelines for information syntheses. Of the 50 articles, 17 satisfied three of the eight criteria; 32 satisfied four or five criteria; and 1 satisfied six criteria. Most reviews had clearly specified purposes (n = 40) and conclusions (n = 37). Only one had clearly specified methods of identifying, selecting, and validating included information. Qualitative synthesis was often used to integrate information included in the review (n = 43); quantitative synthesis was rarely used (n = 3). Future research directives were mentioned in 21. These results indicate that current medical reviews do not routinely use scientific methods to identify, assess, and synthesize information. The methods used in this systematic assessment of reviews are proposed to improve the quality of future review articles.
Keywords
MedicineSystematic reviewMedical literatureMEDLINEManagement scienceFamily medicinePathology
Related Publications
A Proposal for More Informative Abstracts of Review Articles
This proposal presents guidelines for preparing informative abstracts of review articles. Six guidelines are proposed: 1. The abstract should begin with a precise statement of t...
Seventy-Five Trials and Eleven Systematic Reviews a Day: How Will We Ever Keep Up?
When Archie Cochrane reproached the medical profession for not having critical summaries of all randomised controlled trials, about 14 reports of trials were being published per...
The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) version 2018 for information professionals and researchers
Introduction: Appraising the quality of studies included in systematic reviews combining qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies is challenging. To address this chal...
Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach
BackgroundScoping reviews are a relatively new approach to evidence synthesis and currently there exists little guidance regarding the decision to choose between a systematic re...
Formulating Questions and Locating Primary Studies for Inclusion in Systematic Reviews
Much time and effort are spent on designing primary research studies. Similar care must be given to planning systematic reviews. The review should be based on an important, well...
Publication Info
- Year
- 1987
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 485-488
- Citations
- 853
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
853
OpenAlex
Cite This
Cynthia D. Mulrow
(1987).
The Medical Review Article: State of the Science.
Annals of Internal Medicine
, 106
(3)
, 485-488.
https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-106-3-485
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.7326/0003-4819-106-3-485