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Table 2 Examples of choosing websites for different reviews

From: Exploring issues in the conduct of website searching and other online sources for systematic reviews: how can we be systematic?

Systematic review

Key purpose of website search

Types of websites, online resources and depositories

Access to economic assets for women in low- and lower-middle-income countries [7]

Discover relevant research missed or not indexed in international or regional databases

Over 35 sites consisting of government and research-active non-governmental organisations, academic research centres and funders, relating to economics, microfinance, international development, or regional development banks

Adult cooking skills programmes [31]

Discover unpublished evaluations of cooking skills programmes in the UK

Generic search engine, library catalogues, and 25 websites of UK public health and community organisations, research centres and government departments

Depression, anxiety, pain and quality of life in people living with chronic hepatitis C [32]

Discover research identified by advocacy organisations and health research potentially missed by database searches

Websites of hepatitis C advocacy groups in mainly in the UK and some resources to containing healthcare research in general

Realist synthesis of school accountability in low- and middle-income countries [33]

Undertake purposive searching for advisory group engagement and scoping exercise stages prior to bibliographic database searching

Specialist databases, search engine, 20 websites of international development agencies and organisations

Exercise interventions and patient beliefs for people with chronic hip and knee pain [34]

Discover literature on people’s experiences, largely unpublished in journals

Range of website resources covering: arthritis groups in UK, Australasia, and North America, ageing care registries, patient experience resource, grey literature resources, generic search engine, social science research