Abstract
Evidence syntheses that engage librarians as co-authors produce higher-quality results than those that do not. Trained as teachers, researchers, and information managers, librarians possess expert knowledge on research methodologies and information retrieval approaches that are critical for evidence synthesis. Researchers are under increasing pressure to produce evidence syntheses to inform practice and policymaking. Many fields outside of health science and medicine, however, do not have established guidelines, processes, or methodologies. This article describes how librarians led the creation of an interdisciplinary toolkit for researchers new to evidence synthesis. The implementation of the tools, including a protocol, supported eight evidence syntheses focused on effective agricultural interventions published in a special collection in Nature Research in October 2020. This article is a step-by-step overview of the tools and process. We advocate that librarian collaboration in evidence synthesis must become the norm, not the exception. Evidence synthesis project leads without access to a qualified librarian may use this toolkit as a point of entry for production of transparent, reproducible reviews.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 77-87 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Research Synthesis Methods |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grant/Award Number: OPP1210352; Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ Germany) Funding information
Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the funding of this research was provided by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation (BMZ Germany) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation OPP1210352 for the project Ceres2030: Sustainable Solutions to End Hunger.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article