Adherence to systematic review standards: Impact of librarian involvement in Campbell Collaboration's education reviews

Abstract

The Campbell Collaboration is one organization providing standards for education-related systematic reviews. Librarians are often involved in search strategy development or as research team members for Campbell reviews which allows us to investigate librarian impact. This study examines protocols and reviews published by Campbell's Education Coordinating Group for adherence to the search standards from the Methodological Expectations of Campbell Collaboration Intervention Reviews (MECCIR) and the Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS) checklist for evaluating searches. Eligible studies include reviews with protocols published October 2014 to January 2019. Nineteen matched protocols and reviews were evaluated by two authors independently using a form based on MECCIR and PRESS. We compared adherence differences between protocols and reviews and adherence differences due to librarian involvement. Overall, the protocols and reviews generally adhered to search standards, with greater adherence for reviews reporting librarian involvement. Implications for education librarians include: encouragement to become familiar with the systematic review process; selecting and following appropriate guidelines and standards for conducting and reporting reviews; developing proficiency with search strategy development and reporting to reduce bias and increase transparency and reproducibility; and advocating for acknowledgement or authorship in publications to give credit for expertise and contributions to SR projects.