Review of the usefulness of contacting other experts when conducting a literature search for systematic reviews.

s 44 0 0 0 Reports29712 References12924208 Total No of articles (all unique)202312110Overall results Total citations identified12361357537 Total unique references‡10571027529 *Eligible papers scoring 4 or 5 for methodology (one point was given for each of the following: anindependent blind comparison to a reference standard; an appropriate spectrum of patients in the sample;reference standard performed on all patients; test methods described sufficiently to permit replication;likelihood ratios quoted).†Limited hand search of published abstracts of international primary care meetings, and bibliographies ofpublications identified from above sources.‡Excluding overlaps between the three search methods.Papers Department ofPrimary Care andGeneral Practice,University ofBirmingham,BirminghamB15 2TTR J McManus,clinical research fellowS Wilson,research fellowB C Delaney,senior lecturerD A Fitzmaurice,senior lecturerR S Tobias,research associateS Jowett,research associateF D R Hobbs,professor