We are excited to announce the publication of an important methods guidance paper in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) titled "Guidance on Terminology, Application, and Reporting of Citation Searching: the TARCiS Statement."
Systematic literature searches form the basis of evidence-based healthcare by rigorously identifying relevant studies. While traditional term-based searching in electronic databases is well-established, citation searching has become a crucial technique to discover additional relevant evidence. However, the methodology and terminology associated with citation searching have lacked standardization for decades.
To address this gap, a four-round Delphi consensus study was conducted resulting in the development of the Terminology, Application, and Reporting of Citation Searching (TARCiS) statement. TARCiS offers 10 specific recommendations, each with a detailed rationale and guidance on how and when to conduct and report citation searching in systematic literature reviews. Additionally, the statement identifies four research priorities aimed at further advancing the methodology.
This comprehensive guidance was developed in collaboration with the medical library of the University of Basel, the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences, and an international panel of 30 experts. The TARCiS statement is expected to significantly enhance the standardization and transparency of citation searching in systematic reviews, encouraging review teams to integrate these recommendations into their workflows.
We encourage researchers, systematic review teams, and healthcare professionals to incorporate the TARCiS recommendations into their practices to improve the quality and consistency of evidence syntheses.
