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Database alerts rerun a saved search against newly added records and notify you when something matches. The useful ones come from searches precise enough to catch important new research without flooding you with irrelevant results.
Read Guide →Sometimes the most recent evidence is available only as a preprint or another research output that has not completed peer review. You do not necessarily need to ignore it, but its preliminary status should affect how you evaluate, describe, cite, and rely on it.
Read Guide →The newest study may update what we know, but publication date alone does not determine evidential importance. Evaluate what the study adds, how well it was conducted, and how it fits the wider body of evidence.
Read Guide →To find research published since your last search, preserve the original search strategy and document when it was last run. Then rerun or update it using an appropriate date boundary, while accounting for records that databases add or index later.
Read Guide →You usually do not need to reconstruct a literature search every time you update it. Save the search logic, preserve the previous retrieval, and use database update features and alerts to identify what has changed.
Read Guide →There is no single interval for updating every literature search. The right schedule depends on how quickly the evidence changes, what kind of project you are conducting, and when new studies could alter your decisions.
Read Guide →A major study appearing after acceptance does not automatically require reopening your manuscript. Assess whether it materially changes the accuracy or interpretation of the accepted paper, then contact the journal when a substantive change may be warranted.
Read Guide →Continuous literature monitoring is justified when important new evidence appears frequently enough that waiting for occasional search updates could affect research or decisions. It should be systematic and sustainable, not literally constant.
Read Guide →Grey literature includes research and other evidence produced outside conventional academic and commercial publishing. Learn what counts as grey literature and when searching for it can materially improve a literature review.
Read Guide →Ignoring grey literature can leave a review with a systematically incomplete evidence base, especially when the availability of research depends on its results. The problem is not simply missing studies, but whether the evidence you can find differs from the evidence you cannot.
Read Guide →Theses, dissertations, reports, and working papers are scattered across repositories, specialist databases, organizational websites, and search engines. Learn where to search and how to find documents that conventional journal databases may miss.
Read Guide →A conference abstract with no identifiable full paper should not simply disappear from your review. Trace the study carefully, seek additional information where appropriate, and decide what the abstract can support based on your review criteria and the information actually available.
Read Guide →Government and institutional reports can contain valuable research evidence, including surveys, evaluations, administrative analyses, and technical studies. Their authority as documents, however, should not be confused with the methodological strength of the evidence they contain.
Read Guide →A report does not become unreliable simply because it was never peer reviewed, but you cannot assume that someone else has checked it for you. Evaluate its provenance, methods, data, transparency, potential bias, and the strength of the claims it actually supports.
Read Guide →When a preprint has subsequently become a peer-reviewed journal article, the journal version will usually be the appropriate source to cite. But the preprint should not automatically disappear when it contains unique information or differs meaningfully from the published paper.
Read Guide →When a preprint and its published paper report different results, do not automatically discard one version or assume peer review explains the change. Compare the study versions systematically to determine what changed, why it matters, and which result should inform your interpretation.
Read Guide →Studies can exist long before, or without ever becoming, journal articles. Learn how to trace unpublished and ongoing research through registries, conference records, repositories, study authors, sponsors, and other sources.
Read Guide →Publication bias occurs when whether research becomes publicly available is influenced by its findings. The result can be a published literature that looks more positive, consistent, or convincing than the underlying body of research actually is.
Read Guide →The file drawer problem occurs when completed research, particularly studies with null, non-significant, or otherwise unremarkable findings, remains undisclosed. When those hidden studies differ systematically from published research, the visible literature can give a misleading impression of the evidence.
Read Guide →Searching for unpublished research can reduce the risk of missing important evidence, but it can also require substantial time for uncertain return. The right level of effort depends on your review question, the risk of selective publication, the likely location of missing studies, and whether finding them could realistically change your conclusions.
Read Guide →Clinical trial registries can reveal completed studies that never became journal articles and may sometimes provide results themselves. Learn when registry searching matters, what to look for, and how to interpret what you find.
Read Guide →Government consultations can expose research, administrative data, expert evidence, and organizational knowledge that never reaches academic journals. Their usefulness depends on what the document contains and how critically you evaluate it.
Read Guide →Searching for unpublished evidence can reduce important blind spots, but the search cannot continue indefinitely. The appropriate effort depends on the review question, risk of missing evidence, likely value of additional searching, and available resources.
Read Guide →A literature search can appear comprehensive while still underrepresenting research from particular countries. Database coverage, language, indexing practices, publication venues, and search design all influence which research becomes visible.
Read Guide →Searching primarily in English does not necessarily restrict you to English-language research. Translated metadata, multilingual search terms, regional databases, citation searching, and targeted discovery methods can help expose relevant non-English studies.
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