Table 1 Table of included studies
Author, year | Research question or aim | Unit of analysis | Search methods, years | Country of origina | Citations for definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Explicit, published (n = 26) | |||||
Althuis, 2013 [35] | We intend to identify and summarize the study designs, populations, and outcome measures involved in sugar-sweetened beverage research, providing a foundation for (1) a better understanding of the existing mix of studies, (2) identifying research gaps informing future studies on SSB, and (3) focused research synthesis questions appropriate for systematic review and meta-analyses. | Original study (intervention or cohort studies, n = 59) | Followed PRISMA guidelines, multiple databases with standard search terms, reference mined; 1966–2012 | USA | Bragge 2011, Levac 2010, Arksey 2005, Katz 2003, Gough 2012 |
Antsee, 2011 [40] | To identify gaps among the many contemporary studies on HIV prevention from countries with possible relation to HIV in the UK. | Publications (n = 716 systematic reviews, RCTs, other primary research articles) | Standard search in multiple databases; 2006–2009 | UK | Shepherd 2007, GEM |
Bailey, 2014 [44] | To investigate and quantify the nature and distribution of existing high-quality research on the prevention and treatment of eating disorders in young people using evidence mapping methodology. | Trials (n = 197), systematic reviews (n = 22), follow-up studies (n = 10) | Standard search in multiple databases; 1980–2012 | Australia | Callahan 2012, Liu 2010, De Silva 2013 |
Berger, 2014 [45] | Applying evidence mapping techniques to describe the quantity, design, and characteristics of the research on the broad nutrition topic of sugars and health to highlight both what is known and where the gaps exist. | Studies (n = 213) | Standard search in Medline; 1946–May 2013 | USA | none |
Bonell, 2013 [46] | The purpose of the map of evidence and theory and stakeholder consultations was to identify references that are potentially relevant to our review questions, to assess the nature of the references, and to refine our review questions for stage 2. The research questions for this initial mapping stage focused on all aspects of schools’ social and physical environment. | References (n = 1,144) | Standard searches in multiple databases; through September 2010 | UK | none |
Brennan, 2014 [43] | To evaluate the growing literature on policy and environmental strategies to prevent childhood obesity. | Studies (n = 600) | Standard search in multiple databases; 2000–2009 | USA | Hetrick 2010 |
Chung, 2011 [39] | The objectives of this technical brief are to describe the current state of use of stress-loading MRI technologies, to enumerate their potential benefits and harms for the diagnosis and management of patients with musculoskeletal disorders for whom this diagnostic test may be considered, and to describe the evidence available to date that supports these applications. | Studies (n = 57) | Standard search in MEDLINE; 1975–2010 | USA | none |
Coast, 2012 [47] | This study systematically maps, assesses, and aggregates research relating to postnatal depression and poverty in low and lower middle income countries. | Studies (n = 47) | Standard search in multiple databases; through August 2010 | UK | none |
To evaluate the existing evidence on yoga for common clinical conditions in Veterans | Reviews (n = 10) | Standard search in multiple databases; through July 2014 | USA | Arksey 2003, Bragge 2011, Ryan 2009 | |
DeFrank, 2014 [42] | “To understand the extent of evidence on psychological harms, we developed an evidence map that quantifies the distribution of evidence on psychological harms for five adult screening services. We also note gaps in the literature and make recommendations for future research… In characterizing the studies, we gathered information about the study designs, types of measures, and types of outcomes assessed. To focus our study’s scope, we did not assess additional quality indicators of the studies or report their results.” | Studies (N = 88) | Standard search in multiple databases; 2002–2012 | USA | none |
El-Behadli, 2015 [50] | The purpose of this article is to present a map of the extent and distribution of scientific evidence regarding translations of the 9 American Academy of Pediatrics-recommended developmental screening instruments into languages other than English. | Studies (n = 64) | Standard search in multiple databases; through June 2014 | USA | Arksey 2005, Bragge 2011, Levac 2010 |
Greer, 2012 [38] | The purpose: “to describe the wheeled mobility service delivery process for patients with complex rehabilitation needs, survey the available literature on service delivery, and identify issues and areas for future research.” | Studies (n = 24) | Standard search in multiple databases; through 2011 | USA | none |
Hempel, 2014 [51] | An evidence map that provides a visual overview of the distribution of evidence (both what is known and where there is little or no evidence base) for mindfulness and a set of executive summaries that would help stakeholders interpret the state of the evidence to inform policy and clinical decision making. | Systematic reviews (n = 81) | Standard search in multiple databases and input from experts; through February 2014 | USA | none |
The project deliverables are an evidence map that provides a visual overview of the distribution of evidence (both what is known and where there is little or no evidence base) for acupuncture and a set of executive summaries that would help stakeholders interpret the state of evidence to inform policy and clinical decision making. | Publications (n = 183) | Standard search in multiple databases; 2005–2013 | USA | none | |
Hempel, 2014 [52] | An evidence map that provides a visual overview of the distribution of evidence (both what is known and where there is little or no evidence base) for Tai Chi and a set of executive summaries that would help stakeholders interpret the state of the evidence to inform policy and clinical decision-making. | Systematic reviews (n = 107) | Standard search in multiple databases and input from experts; through February 2014 | USA | none |
Hitch, 2012 [53] | The purpose of this scoping and mapping project is to assess evidence for the use of focused psychological strategies to enable people with mental health problems to participate in meaningful occupations. In particular, it aims to summarize and thus increases accessibility to the evidence which practitioners could use to support their use of focused psychological strategies to maximize the functional performance and quality of life enjoyed by their clients. | Studies (n = 81) | Standard search in multiple databases; since 2000 | Australia | Arksey 2005, Bates 2007, Katz 2003 |
Jaramillo, 2013 [37] | To identify high-priority research questions for osteoarthritis systematic reviews with consideration of health equity and the social determinants of health. | Systematic reviews (n = 34) | Preliminary search for a framework on multiple databases (no dates reported); multiple databases for systematic reviews (no dates reported) | Canada | Bragge 2011 |
Kadiyala, 2014 [54] | This paper comprehensively maps existing evidence along agriculture-nutrition pathways in India and assesses both the quality and coverage of the existing literature. | Articles (n = 78) | Standard search in multiple databases, gray literature search; through June 2013 | UK | none |
Nihashi, 2013 [36] | We constructed an evidence map of clinical evidence on the use of PET in glioma and identified research gaps. | Studies (n = 129) | Standard search in multiple databases; through 2011 | Japan | Arksey 2005, Hetrick 2010 |
Northway, 2005 [55] | To collate the evidence for good practice within the context of a wider project into the abuse of people with learning disabilities…it has highlighted common themes, examples of good practice, and the extent and nature of research that can inform adult protection. | Not reported | Standard search in multiple databases; no date restricted | UK | none |
Sawicki, 2015 [56] | To use evidence mapping to summarize published data on dietary fibers and the human gut microbiome. | Publications (n = 153) | Standard search in multiple databases; no dates reported | USA | none |
Singh, 2012 [57] | The purpose of this study was to develop a broad synopsis of the available literature through an evidence map of systematic reviews about interventions in adults with prediabetes. | Systematic reviews (n = 14) | Standard search in multiple databases and gray literature; January 2012 | Canada | Arksey 2005, Hetrick 2010 |
Vallarino, 2015 [59] | Identify the extent, distribution, and methodological quality of evidence (on the use of psychological interventions for early-stage bipolar disorder in patients aged 15–25 years). | Studies (n = 29) | Search in multiple databases and additional sources; no dates reported | UK | Hetrick 2010 |
Wang, 2015 [60] | To describe the quantity, design, and characteristics of the published studies of low calorie sweeteners and selected health outcomes using evidence mapping. | Studies (n = 222) | Standard search on Medline; through July 2014 | USA | none |
Explicit, online (n = 8) | |||||
To create evidence maps providing an overview of existing research in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) | Publications (n = 1644) | Standard search in multiple databases; no time restriction | Australia | Bragge 2011 | |
In order to comprehensively and systematically assemble and appraise evidence for a range of treatments across numerous mental health disorders (for young people aged 12–25 years), a mapping methodology was selected. | See below for description from individual publications | See below for description from individual publications | See below for description from individual publications | Arksey 2005, Bragge 2011, Hetrick 2010, Katz 2003, Curran 2007 | |
Callahan, 2012 [63] headspace | This paper presents the results of an evidence map we conducted on depression in young people. The extent, range, and nature of high-quality clinical research interventions for depression in young people are summarized. | Publications (n = 204, 162 trials, 41 SR/MA) | Standard search in multiple databases; 1980–2009 | Australia | Aggregated above |
De Silva, 2013 [61] headspace | To investigate the extent and nature of research on interventions to prevent and treat suicide and self-harm in young people using evidence mapping. | Reviews (n = 6), Studies (n = 38) | Standard search in multiple databases; 1980–2011 | Australia | Aggregated above |
Liu, 2010 [66] headspace | Presents an overview of the extent, range and nature of high-quality clinical research interventions for early psychosis by summarizing the empirical evidence from RCTs, CCTs, and SRs and/or MAs. | Publications (n = 66, 58 controlled trials, 8 systematic reviews) | Standard search in multiple databases; no dates reported | Australia | Aggregated above |
Methodology (n = 5) | |||||
Chapman, 2013 [31] | To identify gaps and priorities in the maternal health research, generate a list of maternal health research questions… and adapt questions… to create research questions for use in a future prioritization exercise with experts and other stakeholders. | Systematic reviews (n = 178) | Searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; 2006–2011 | USA | Li et al. 2012, Nasser et al. 2007, de Vet et al. 2001, Clarke et al. 2007 |
Curran, 2007 [33] | What empirical evidence is available on the relationships between mental health problems and social exclusion? What is the nature of this evidence? Is it qualitative or quantitative? Which mental health and social exclusion topics are well researched and which are not? Which countries are the studies set in? What research designs are used to generate the evidence? | Publications (n = 72 includes from a random sample of 200 pulled from 16,115 total search hits) | Search in multiple databases; 1948–2003 | USA | Gough and Elbourne 2002 |
Frampton, 2014 [34] | To assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of educational interventions for preventing catheter-blood stream infections in critical care units in England. | Studies (n = 74) | Standard search in multiple databases; through 2011 | UK | Shepherd et al. 2010, Shepherd et al. 2006, Rees et al. 2006 |
Katz, 2003 [18] | To map the evidence pertaining to many commonly used complimentary and alternative medicine practices. | Publications (only presented counts by category, mutual exclusivity not addressed, all study designs and included systematic reviews/ meta-analyses) | Standard search in multiple databases, gray literature included; through 2000/2001 | USA | None |
Wysocki, 2007 [32] | To provide an overview of the key issues and evidence map related to the use of whole-body vibration therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. | Studies (n = 12) | Standard search in multiple databases and gray literature; through 2010 | USA | None |