Prioritization and sequential exclusion of articles in systematic reviews

K M Saif-Ur-Rahman; Md Hasan; Shahed Hossain; Iqbal Anwar; Yoshihisa Hirakawa; Hiroshi Yatsuya

doi:10.1002/cl2.1229

Prioritization and sequential exclusion of articles in systematic reviews

Campbell Syst Rev. 2022 Mar 27;18(2):e1229. doi: 10.1002/cl2.1229. eCollection 2022 Jun.

Authors

K M Saif-Ur-Rahman^{1

2}, Md Hasan³, Shahed Hossain⁴, Iqbal Anwar², Yoshihisa Hirakawa¹, Hiroshi Yatsuya^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health and Health Systems, Graduate School of Medicine Nagoya University Nagoya Japan.
² Health Systems and Population Studies Division icddr,b Dhaka Bangladesh.
³ Department of Public Health and Informatics Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Dhaka Bangladesh.
⁴ James P. Grant School of Public Health BRAC University Dhaka Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Public Health Fujita Health University School of Medicine Toyoake Aichi Japan.

Abstract

It is difficult to match the causes of exclusion among two independent review authors after screening the title and abstract or full texts in systematic reviews. We have proposed the prioritization and sequential exclusion approach to reduce the subjectivity in reporting reasons for exclusion. This approach might reduce the burden of mismatched numbers while describing the cause of exclusion.