Skip to main content

Table 2 Overview of the number of articles identified by different searches and with or without complete abstract reporting

From: The strong focus on positive results in abstracts may cause bias in systematic reviews: a case study on abstract reporting bias

 

Total

Web of Science

PubMed

Number of articles in study population (based on broad search)

28

23

16

Number of articles retrieved by specific search*

12

11

4

Number of articles with complete abstract reporting*

12

11

4

Number of articles with complete abstract reporting (excluding database-added keywords)

9

8

4

Number of articles identified only on database-specific keywords

3

3

0

  1. *These strategies were assumed and confirmed to identify exactly the same articles. ‘Articles with complete abstract reporting’ are articles that report ‘bladder’, ‘urinary’ or ‘transitional’ in their abstract, title or keywords