Table 1.
Results
| Comparison | Recall | Precision | ||||
| Number of Studies† | Number of Comparisons | Median (Range) | Number of Studies† | Number of Comparisons | Median (Range) | |
| MEDLINE vs. Handsearching | 23 | 41 22* | 53 (7,97) 58 (7,97) | 12 | 23 11 | 35 (0.03,99) 31 (0.03,78) |
| MEDLINE vs. MEDLINE + Handsearching | 13 | 16 12* | 70 (18,90) 75 (18,90) | 6 | 8 5 | 49 (13,83) 40 (13,83) |
| MEDLINE vs. Reference Standard | 13 | 24 18* | 59 (17,98) 58 (17,98) | 8 | 17 11 | 27 (1,91) 30 (1,91) |
| EMBASE vs. Handsearching | 2 | 2 | (42,88) | 2 | 2 | (9,17) |
| EMBASE vs. Reference Standard | 9 | 14 13* | 72 (13,100) 68 (13,100) | 5 | 8 7 | 28 (0,48) 26 (0,48) |
| PsycINFO vs. Handsearching | 2 | 2 | (68,70) | 2 | 2 | (8,9) |
| PsycINFO vs. Reference Standard | 2 | 4 2* | 50 (0,65) (38,61) | 2 | 3 2 | 39 (36,47) (36,47) |
| Trial Registries vs. Reference Standard | 2 | 4 | 89 (84,95) | 1 | 2 | (96,97) |
| CINAHL vs. Reference Standard | 2 | 2 | (0,1) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Biosis vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| CancerLIT vs. Handsearching | 1 | 1 | 92 | 0 | -- | -- |
| Cabnar vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| CENTRAL vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 78 | 0 | -- | -- |
| Chirolars vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 49 | 0 | -- | -- |
| HealthStar vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 53 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Internet vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| SciCitIndex vs. Reference Standard | 1 | 1 | 61 | 0 | -- | -- |
* excludes duplicate topics
† excludes Index searches