Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre

Resources for handsearchers

The Cochrane Collaboration has enthusiastically pursued the identification of reports of randomized controlled trials by handsearching journals which have not been indexed in major databases [MEDLINE EMBASE] and in the process has added substantially to the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL).

Why do handsearching?

Collaborators around the world are hand searching health care journals and conference proceedings. Why?

The aims of The Cochrane Collaboration are "preparing, maintaining and disseminating systematic reviews of the effects of health care". Before one can prepare a systematic review, one has to find the relevant research reports; in the case of The Cochrane Collaboration, this usually means reports of randomized clinical trials. This can be surprisingly difficult. Cochrane review authors rely on several means of searching for relevant reports, including both electronic and manual methods. For complete identification of published reports, there appears to be no alternative to a page-by-page search of the literature.

Hundreds of journals have been or are being hand searched by members of The Cochrane Collaboration, some journals by as few as one and others by as many as 32 individual searchers. As of this writing, an estimated 1,000 searchers are contributing to this effort, by searching for and cataloguing trials from more than 2,000 journals. As more trials are identified, it will be possible to prepare, maintain and disseminate increasing numbers of systematic reviews.

Regional handsearching activities:

The Bahrain Branch is working in collaboration with a group of handsearchers in the region to identify reports of randomised controlled trials by systematically handsearching all regional healthcare journals.

List of Journals being Handsearched:

Annals of Saudi Medicine
Bahrain Medical Bulletin
Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal
Emirates Medical Journal
Journal of the Bahrain Medical Society
Journal of the Saudi Heart Association
Kuwait Medical Journal
Neurosciences
Pan Arab Journal of Neurosurgery
Saudi Journal of Gastroenterology
Saudi Journal of Kidney Diseases and Transplantation
Saudi Medical Journal
DARU
Acta Medica Iranica
Journal of Dentistry of TUMS
Archives of Iranian Medicine
Iranian Journal of Medical Sciences
Iranian Journal of Pediatrics
Urology Journal
Medical Journal of Islamic Republic of Iran
Iranian Heart Journal
Iranian Journal of Allergy , Asthma & Immunology
Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Journal of Dental Medicine of TUMS
Shahid Beheshti University Dental Journal

Training resources:

Cochrane Handsearcher Training Online Course
Handsearcher Training Manual (PDF version)

Handsearcher resources:

Handsearch manual online (html) version
Handsearch Training Resources from The Cochrane Colloquium, Cape Town (2000) Workshop (.doc)
Oral Health Group's handsearching manual
Master List and Journal list in MS Excel.

Related publications by branch members:

1. Al Hajeri A, Fedorowicz Z. A comparison of handsearching versus EMBASE searching of the Bahrain Medical Bulletin to identify reports of randomized controlled trials. Bahrain Medical Bulletin 2005; 27 (4): 160-3.

2. Cathey JT, Al Hajeri AA, Fedorowicz Z. A comparison of handsearching versus EMBASE searching of the Annals of Saudi Medicine to identify reports of randomized controlled trials. Annals of Saudi Medicine 2006; 26(1):49-51.

3. Al-Hajeri AA, Fedorowicz Z, Amin FA, Eisinga A. The handsearching of 2 medical journals of Bahrain for reports of randomized controlled trials. Saudi Medical Journal 2006; 27(4):526-530.

4. Nasser M, Al-Hajeri. A comparison of handsearching versus EMBASE searching of the Archives of Iranian Medicine to identify reports of randomized controlled trials. Archives of Iranian Medicine 2006;9(3) 192-195.

Other useful articles:

1. Eisinga A, Lefebvre C. Closing the gap – identifying reports of randomized trials in EMBASE for inclusion in CENTRAL [abstract]. In: 12th Cochrane Colloquium 2004 Oct 2-6; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: 150-1.
http://www.cochrane.org/colloquia/abstracts/ottawa/P-077.htm

2. Hopewell S, Clarke M, Lefebvre C, Scherer R. Handsearching versus electronic searching to identify reports of randomized trials. The Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews 2002, Issue 4. Art. No.:MR000001.DOI:10.1002/14651858.MR000001.
http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane/revabstr/am000001.htm

How to contact us:

Amani Al-Hajeri (Bahrain)
The Handsearching Programme Coordinator
The Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre
The Cochrane Collaboration.
alhajeriamani doesnotexist@cochrane.org gmail.com

Mona Nasser
The Handsearching Programme Coordinator (Iran)
The Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre
The Cochrane Collaboration.
monanasser1 doesnotexist@cochrane.org googlemail.com

Zbys Fedorowicz (Bahrain)
The Director. The Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre
The Cochrane Collaboration.
zbysfedo doesnotexist@cochrane.org batelco.com.bh

Dunia Al Hashimi (Bahrain)
Co-Director of the Bahrain Branch of the UK Cochrane Centre
The Cochrane Collaboration.
drdunia doesnotexist@cochrane.org gmail.com

Regional handsearchers:

John Cathey (Saudi Arabia)
jtcathey doesnotexist@cochrane.org kfshrc.edu.sa

Jamal Al Sayyad (Bahrain)
JSayyad doesnotexist@cochrane.org health.gov.bh

Basem Al Jufairi (Bahrain)
drbaaj doesnotexist@cochrane.org yahoo.com