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Table 2 Techniques to be used in the online databases search

From: Treatment of cervical cancer in HIV-seropositive women from developing countries: a protocol for a systematic review

Techniques

Description

Example

Free-text synonyms of keyword search

All known synonyms of the keyword in both British and US spellings

Cervical cancer synonyms: cervical carcinomas, cervix neoplasms, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, cervix dysplasia etc.

Truncation commands

Using the root word to capture alternative word endings

Cervi* carcinom* searches for words such as cervical carcinoma, cervix carcinomas etc.

Proximity operators

Operators used will be Adj3 in OvidSP interface

hpv adj3 vaccin*

Boolean logic operators

‘OR’ and ‘AND’ will be the two commands to be used.

‘OR’ is used to locate articles with at least one of the search terms.

‘AND’ is to be used near the end of a search so as to combine results of different search concepts.

treat* or therap* OR

radiation adj3 therap*.

(treat* or therap* OR

radiation adj3 therap*) AND (HIV positive OR hiv seropositiv* OR hiv) AND (developing countr* OR underdeveloped countr*)