All searches of all databases need to be reproducible. Bear in mind, that the full search strategies for each database will need to be included in the Appendix of the review. You need to copy and paste the search strategies exactly as run and include them in full. You should not re-type the search strategies as this can introduce errors (Cochrane Handbook, 4.5).
These publications from UTAS researchers demonstrate how a final search strategy could look like:
Once you have developed the search strategies for the different databases, you may like to explore how to best document the searches and how to handle results and store papers.
This is the final search strategy for the Medline via Ovid example:
|
# |
Searches |
| 1 | Dementia.ab,kf,ti. |
| 2 | Alzheimer.ab,kf,ti. |
| 3 | "Huntington*".ab,kf,ti. |
| 4 | Kluver.ab,kf,ti. |
| 5 | Lewy.ab,kf,ti. |
| 6 | exp Dementia/ |
| 7 | 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 |
| 8 | (Animal adj3 therap*3).ab,kf,ti. |
| 9 | (Animal adj3 activit*).ab,kf,ti. |
| 10 | (Animal adj3 intervention*).ab,kf,ti. |
| 11 | (Pet adj3 therap*3).ab,kf,ti. |
| 12 | (Dog adj3 therap*3).ab,kf,ti. |
| 13 | (Canine adj3 therap*3).ab,kf,ti. |
| 14 | Aquarium.ab,kf,ti. |
| 15 | Animal Assisted Therapy/ |
| 16 | Pets/ |
| 17 | Dogs/ |
| 18 | Cats/ |
| 19 | Birds/ |
| 20 | Bonding, Human-Pet/ |
| 21 | Animals, Domestic/ |
| 22 | 8 or 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or 14 or 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 or 20 or 21 |
| 23 | "music*".ab,kf,ti. |
| 24 | singing.ab,kf,ti. |
| 25 | sing.ab,kf,ti. |
| 26 | "Auditory stimulat*".ab,kf,ti. |
| 27 | Music/ |
| 28 | Music Therapy/ |
| 29 | Acoustic Stimulation/ |
| 30 | Singing/ |
| 31 | 23 or 24 or 25 or 26 or 27 or 28 or 29 or 30 |
| 32 | Aggression.ab,kf,ti. |
| 33 | Neuropsychiatric.ab,kf,ti. |
| 34 | Apathy inventory.ab,kf,ti. |
| 35 | Cornell scale.ab,kf,ti. |
| 36 | Cohen Mansfield.ab,kf,ti. |
| 37 | BEHAVE-AD.ab,kf,ti. |
| 38 | CERAD-BRSD.ab,kf,ti. |
| 39 | behavio?r.ab,kf,ti. |
| 40 | exp Aggression/ |
| 41 | exp Personality Inventory/ |
| 42 | Psychomotor Agitation/ |
| 43 | 32 or 33 or 34 or 35 or 36 or 37 or 38 or 39 or 40 or 41 or 42 |
| 44 | 7 and 22 and 31 and 43 |
This is the final search strategy for the Medline via PubMed example:
| #1 | Dementia [tiab] |
| #2 | Alzheimer [tiab] |
| #3 | Huntington* [tiab] |
| #4 | Kluver [tiab] |
| #5 | Lewy [tiab] |
| #6 | Dementia [mh] |
| #7 | #1 OR #2 OR #3 OR #4 OR #5 OR #6 |
| #8 | Animal-assisted therapy [tiab] |
| #9 | Animal-assisted activit* [tiab] |
| #10 | Animal-assisted intervention* [tiab] |
| #11 | Animal therapy [tiab] |
| #12 | Pet therapy [tiab] |
| #13 | Dog therapy [tiab] |
| #14 | Dog-assisted therapy [tiab] |
| #15 | Canine-assisted therapy [tiab] |
| #16 | Aquarium [tiab] |
| #17 | Animal Assisted Therapy [mh:noexp] |
| #18 | Pets [mh] |
| #19 | Dogs [mh] |
| #20 | Cats [mh] |
| #21 | Birds [mh:noexp] |
| #22 | Bonding, Human-Pet [mh] |
| #23 | Animals, Domestic [mh:noexp] |
| #24 | #8 OR #9 OR #10 OR #11 OR #12 OR #13 OR #14 OR #15 OR #16 OR #17 OR #18 OR #19 OR #20 OR #21 OR #22 OR #23 |
| #25 | Music therapy [tiab] |
| #26 | Music* [tiab] |
| #27 | Singing [tiab] |
| #28 | Sing [tiab] |
| #29 | Auditory stimulat* [tiab] |
| #30 | Music [mh] |
| #31 | Music Therapy [mh] |
| #32 | Acoustic Stimulation [mh] |
| #33 | Singing [mh] |
| #34 | #25 OR #26 OR #27 OR #28 OR #29 OR 30 OR #31 OR #32 OR #33 |
| #35 | Aggression [tiab] |
| #36 | Neuropsychiatric [tiab] |
| #37 | Apathy inventory [tiab] |
| #38 | Cornell scale [tiab] |
| #39 | Cohen Mansfield [tiab] |
| #40 | BEHAVE-AD [tiab] |
| #41 | CERAD-BRSD [tiab] |
| #42 | Behavior* [tiab] |
| #43 | Behaviour* [tiab] |
| #44 | Aggression [mh] |
| #45 | Personality inventory [mh] |
| #46 | Psychomotor agitation [mh] |
| #47 | #35 OR #36 OR #37 OR #38 OR #39 OR 40 OR #41 OR #42 OR #43 OR #44 OR #45 OR #46 |
| #48 | #7 AND #24 AND #34 AND #47 |
