TABLE 1.
Gray literature search and languages used in the included systematic reviews according to their characteristics
| Gray literature search | Languages used | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratified analysis | Yes (%, n) | P value* | No restriction (%, n) | English and 1 or 2 relevant languages (%, n) | English or English and not relevant languages (%, n) | Not mentioned (%, n) | P value* | Total (%, n) |
| Author affiliation | ||||||||
| Inside MENA | 75.0% (84) | 0.022 | 17.9% (20) | 10.7% (12) | 34.8% (39) | 36.6% (41) | 0.084 | 100% (112) |
| Collaboration | 69.6% (80) | 22.6% (26) | 19.1% (22) | 33.9% (39) | 24.3% (28) | 100% (115) | ||
| Outside MENA | 59.2% (90) | 28.9% (44) | 15.1% (23) | 33.6% (51) | 22.4% (34) | 100% (152) | ||
| Journal impact factor | ||||||||
| IF < 2 | 70.8% (121) | 0.312 | 17.5% (30) | 15.8% (27) | 36.8% (63) | 29.8% (51) | 0.008 | 100% (171) |
| 2 ≤ IF < 4 | 63.1% (82) | 25.4% (33) | 12.3% (16) | 36.9% (48) | 25.4% (33) | 100% (130) | ||
| 4 ≤ IF < 6 | 59.0% (23) | 23.1% (9) | 28.2% (11) | 25.6% (10) | 23.1% (9) | 100% (39) | ||
| IF ≥ 6 | 71.8% (28) | 46.2% (18) | 7.7% (3) | 20.5% (8) | 25.6% (10) | 100% (39) | ||
| Year of publication | ||||||||
| 2008–2010 | 54.4% (31) | 0.097 | 28.1% (16) | 8.8% (5) | 35.1% (20) | 28.1% (16) | 0.427 | 100% (57) |
| 2011–2013 | 69.7% (83) | 22.7% (27) | 14.3% (17) | 30.3% (36) | 32.8% (39) | 100% (119) | ||
| 2014–2016 | 69.0% (150) | 23.2% (47) | 17.2% (35) | 36.0% (73) | 23.6% (48) | 100% (203) | ||
| Geographical coverage | ||||||||
| North Africa | 88.9% (8) | 0.764 | 33.3% (3) | 22.2% (2) | 22.2% (2) | 22.2% (2) | 0.005 | 100% (9) |
| Eastern Africa | 75.0% (3) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 25.0% (1) | 75.0% (3) | 100% (4) | ||
| Country level | 72.4% (63) | 17.2% (15) | 12.6% (11) | 31.0% (27) | 39.15% (34) | 100% (87) | ||
| Middle East | 70.4% (19) | 22.2% (6) | 14.8% (4) | 33.3% (9) | 29.6% (8) | 100% (27) | ||
| MENA | 69.2% (27) | 25.6% (10) | 17.9% (7) | 23.1% (9) | 33.3% (13) | 100% (39) | ||
| Multiple regions | 67.7% (21) | 25.8% (8) | 9.7% (3) | 41.9% (13) | 22.6% (7) | 100% (31) | ||
| Arab countries | 66.7% (22) | 12.1% (4) | 21.2% (7) | 39.4% (13) | 27.3% (9) | 100% (33) | ||
| GCC | 66.7% (8) | 25.0% (3) | 16.7% (2) | 33.3% (4) | 25.0% (3) | 100% (12) | ||
| Africa | 65.2% (15) | 43.5% (10) | 34.8% (8) | 13.0% (3) | 8.7% (2) | 100% (23) | ||
| Global | 62.8% (54) | 30.2% (26) | 15.1% (13) | 33.7% (29) | 20.9% (18) | 100% (86) | ||
| Asia | 50.0% (14) | 17.9% (5) | 0.0% (0) | 67.9% (19) | 14.3% (4) | 100% (28) | ||
| Health topics | ||||||||
| Nutrition | 85.7% (12) | 0.011 | 7.1% (1) | 0.0% (0) | 57.1% (8) | 35.7% (5) | 0.376 | 100% (14) |
| Infectious disease | 76.2% (99) | 23.8% (31) | 16.9% (22) | 30.0% (39) | 29.2% (38) | 100% (130) | ||
| Oncology | 75.0% (21) | 17.9% (5) | 14.3% (4) | 39.3% (11) | 28.6% (8) | 100% (28) | ||
| Mental health | 69.2% (18) | 15.4% (4) | 23.1% (6) | 38.5% (10) | 23.1% (6) | 100% (26) | ||
| Other | 59.0% (85) | 25.0% (36) | 13.2% (19) | 35.4% (51) | 26.4% (38) | 100% (144) | ||
| Cardiovascular disease | 52.9% (9) | 17.6% (3) | 17.6% (3) | 35.3% (6) | 29.4% (5) | 100% (17) | ||
| Diabetes | 50.0% (10) | 50.0% (10) | 15.0% (3) | 20.0% (4) | 15.0% (3) | 100% (20) | ||
| Total | 67.0% (254) | 23.7% (90) | 15.0% (57) | 34.0% (129) | 27.2% (103) | 100% (379) | ||
*Fisher's exact test was used to assess the significance of the association between our variables.