1. Literature search

1.4 Using documents that have been retrieved

a. Checking that the search has been exhaustive

Theprospective approach consists in finding new articles being published during the course of the study.

This can be done with lists of alerts. There are numerous options:

  • Most periodicals offer free same-day delivery of the table of contents of articles as soon as they appear.
  • Articles can be viewed cost-free, as is the case for some that appear in the British Medical Journal.
  • "Pay-per-view" is an option with many journals, such as with the New England Journal of Medicine, but often it may be available only to subscribers.
  • Many journals can easily access titles and abstracts from selected keywords, which is especially the case for periodicals that are indexed in a database. This service is cost-free with MyNCBI.
  • Other private free services are available, some of which also provide access to the conclusion of articles (www.mdlinx.com) (www.mdlinx.com).