A survey of prevalence of narrative and systematic reviews in five major medical journals

doi:10.1186/s12874-017-0453-y

. 2017 Dec 28;17(1):176.

doi: 10.1186/s12874-017-0453-y.

A survey of prevalence of narrative and systematic reviews in five major medical journals

Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr¹, Nikolaos P Bakas², Jason Wasiak³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Münster, Waldeyerstraße 30, 48149, Münster, Germany. clovisfaggion@yahoo.com.
² School of Architecture, Engineering, Land and Environmental Sciences, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus.
³ Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

PMID: 29281975
PMCID: PMC5746017
DOI: 10.1186/s12874-017-0453-y

A survey of prevalence of narrative and systematic reviews in five major medical journals

Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr et al. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2017.

. 2017 Dec 28;17(1):176.

doi: 10.1186/s12874-017-0453-y.

Authors

Clovis Mariano Faggion Jr¹, Nikolaos P Bakas², Jason Wasiak³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Münster, Waldeyerstraße 30, 48149, Münster, Germany. clovisfaggion@yahoo.com.
² School of Architecture, Engineering, Land and Environmental Sciences, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos, Cyprus.
³ Melbourne School of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.

PMID: 29281975
PMCID: PMC5746017
DOI: 10.1186/s12874-017-0453-y

Abstract

Background: Systematic reviews may provide less biased evidence than narrative reviews because they observe a strict methodology, similarly to primary studies. Hence, for clinical research questions, systematic reviews should be the study design of choice. It would be important to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of narrative and systematic reviews published in prominent medical journals. Researchers and clinicians give great value to articles published in such scientific journals. This study sought to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of narrative and systematic reviews in the five highest-ranked general medical journals and investigate the associations among type of review, number of citations, and impact factor (IF).

Methods: We surveyed the five highest-ranked medical journals (The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, The Journal of the American Medical Association, The BMJ, and Annals of Internal Medicine) for narrative and systematic reviews published between June 2015 and June 2016. We independently selected and extracted the data from the reviews by strictly following the pre-determined eligibility criteria (Systematic and narrative reviews that focused on the management of diseases). We conducted regression analyses to investigate the associations among review type, number of citations, and IF. We also descriptively reported narrative reviews containing some methodology that might be reproducible.

Results: Two hundred seventy-five reviews were included: 75 (27%) systematic; 126 (46%) narrative with some methodology reported, and 74 (27%) narrative reviews. In comparison to systematic reviews, narrative reviews were more frequently published in journals with higher IF (risk ratio [RR] = 1.114 (95% CI 1.080 to 1.149). Systematic reviews received more citations than narrative reviews (group formed by narrative and narrative with some methodology reported (RR = 0.985 95% CI 0.978 to 0.991).

Conclusions: Non-systematic evidence is the most prevalent type of evidence in reviews published in the five highest-ranked general medical journals. Narrative reviews were more frequently published in journals with higher IF. We recommend that journals limit their space for narrative information, and to address clinical research questions, these journals consider publishing systematic evidence exclusively.

Keywords: Bias; Journal impact factor; Methodological study; Review; Systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Distribution of types of reviews in the five medical journals (clinically oriented and population health/policy-making reviews presented together)

**Fig. 2**
Percentage of reviews (systematic and narrative* (narrative reviews plus narrative reviews-SMR) in the five medical journals)

See this image and copyright information in PMC

Cited by

Managing depression with complementary and alternative medicine therapies: a scientometric analysis and visualization of research activities.
Zhao FY, Xu P, Zheng Z, Conduit R, Xu Y, Yue LP, Wang HR, Wang YM, Li YX, Li CY, Zhang WJ, Fu QQ, Kennedy GA. Zhao FY, et al. Front Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 15;14:1288346. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1288346. eCollection 2023. Front Psychiatry. 2023. PMID: 38034915 Free PMC article.
MAFLD as part of systemic metabolic dysregulation.
Zhao J, Liu L, Cao YY, Gao X, Targher G, Byrne CD, Sun DQ, Zheng MH. Zhao J, et al. Hepatol Int. 2024 Oct;18(Suppl 2):834-847. doi: 10.1007/s12072-024-10660-y. Epub 2024 Apr 9. Hepatol Int. 2024. PMID: 38594474 Review.
Top-50 cited articles on cysticercosis and neurocysticercosis.
Gonzalez-Alcaide G, Sosa N, Valero-Samper F, Belinchon-Romero I, Ramos-Rincon JM. Gonzalez-Alcaide G, et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Mar 1;103(9):e37268. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000037268. Medicine (Baltimore). 2024. PMID: 38428894 Free PMC article.
Primary versus secondary source of data in observational studies and heterogeneity in meta-analyses of drug effects: a survey of major medical journals.
Prada-Ramallal G, Roque F, Herdeiro MT, Takkouche B, Figueiras A. Prada-Ramallal G, et al. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018 Sep 27;18(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12874-018-0561-3. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018. PMID: 30261846 Free PMC article.
Stretching for Recovery from Groin Pain or Injury in Athletes: A Critical and Systematic Review.
Afonso J, Claudino JG, Fonseca H, Moreira-Gonçalves D, Ferreira V, Almeida JM, Clemente FM, Ramirez-Campillo R. Afonso J, et al. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2021 Aug 30;6(3):73. doi: 10.3390/jfmk6030073. J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2021. PMID: 34564192 Free PMC article. Review.

See all "Cited by" articles

References

1. Moher D, Glasziou P, Chalmers I, Nasser M, Bossuyt PM, Korevaar DA, Graham ID, Ravaud P, Boutron I. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who's listening? Lancet. 2016;387:1573–1586. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00307-4. - DOI - PubMed
1. Fardi A, Kodonas K, Gogos C, Economides N. Top-cited articles in endodontic journals. J Endod. 2011;37:1183–1190. doi: 10.1016/j.joen.2011.05.037. - DOI - PubMed
1. Feijoo JF, Limeres J, Fernández-Varela M, Ramos I, Diz P. The 100 most cited articles in dentistry. Clin Oral Investig. 2014;18:699–706. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1017-0. - DOI - PubMed
1. Faggion CM Jr, Málaga L, Monje A, Trescher AL, Listl S, Alarcón MA. The 300 most cited articles published in periodontology. Clin Oral Investig. 2016; [Epub ahead of print] - PubMed
1. Lancet Oncology. http://thelancet.com/lanonc/information-for-authors/article-types-manusc.... Accessed 26 January 2017.

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
- scite Smart Citations
Miscellaneous
- NCI CPTAC Assay Portal

[1] Moher D, Glasziou P, Chalmers I, Nasser M, Bossuyt PM, Korevaar DA, Graham ID, Ravaud P, Boutron I. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who's listening? Lancet. 2016;387:1573–1586. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00307-4. - DOI - PubMed

[2] Moher D, Glasziou P, Chalmers I, Nasser M, Bossuyt PM, Korevaar DA, Graham ID, Ravaud P, Boutron I. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research: who's listening? Lancet. 2016;387:1573–1586. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00307-4. - DOI - PubMed

[3] Fardi A, Kodonas K, Gogos C, Economides N. Top-cited articles in endodontic journals. J Endod. 2011;37:1183–1190. doi: 10.1016/j.joen.2011.05.037. - DOI - PubMed

[4] Fardi A, Kodonas K, Gogos C, Economides N. Top-cited articles in endodontic journals. J Endod. 2011;37:1183–1190. doi: 10.1016/j.joen.2011.05.037. - DOI - PubMed

[5] Feijoo JF, Limeres J, Fernández-Varela M, Ramos I, Diz P. The 100 most cited articles in dentistry. Clin Oral Investig. 2014;18:699–706. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1017-0. - DOI - PubMed

[6] Feijoo JF, Limeres J, Fernández-Varela M, Ramos I, Diz P. The 100 most cited articles in dentistry. Clin Oral Investig. 2014;18:699–706. doi: 10.1007/s00784-013-1017-0. - DOI - PubMed

[7] Faggion CM Jr, Málaga L, Monje A, Trescher AL, Listl S, Alarcón MA. The 300 most cited articles published in periodontology. Clin Oral Investig. 2016; [Epub ahead of print] - PubMed

[8] Faggion CM Jr, Málaga L, Monje A, Trescher AL, Listl S, Alarcón MA. The 300 most cited articles published in periodontology. Clin Oral Investig. 2016; [Epub ahead of print] - PubMed

[9] Lancet Oncology. http://thelancet.com/lanonc/information-for-authors/article-types-manusc.... Accessed 26 January 2017.

[10] Lancet Oncology. http://thelancet.com/lanonc/information-for-authors/article-types-manusc.... Accessed 26 January 2017.

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

A survey of prevalence of narrative and systematic reviews in five major medical journals

Affiliations

A survey of prevalence of narrative and systematic reviews in five major medical journals

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Consent for publication

Competing interests

Publisher’s Note

Figures

Similar articles

Cited by

References

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Miscellaneous