What's beyond the core? Database coverage in qualitative information retrieval.

Area of Science:

• Health Technology Assessment
• Information Science
• Qualitative Research Methodology

Background:

• Qualitative research is increasingly vital in systematic and rapid reviews within Health Technology Assessment (HTA).
• Standardized search methodologies for retrieving qualitative studies, especially database selection, are still evolving.
• Effective database searching is crucial for comprehensive literature retrieval in HTA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of commonly used bibliographic databases in retrieving qualitative studies for HTA.
• To compare the performance of specialized health databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO) with multidisciplinary citation indexes (Scopus, Web of Science).
• To identify optimal database strategies for qualitative research retrieval in HTA.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive list of relevant journal titles was compiled using InCites Journal Citation Reports.
• This list was validated by qualitative researchers at Canada's Drug Agency.
• The qualitative holdings of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science were evaluated by calculating percentages of total and unique titles held.

Main Results:

• Multidisciplinary databases, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection, held the highest percentages of total qualitative study titles.
• Scopus and Web of Science also provided a greater number of unique qualitative study titles compared to specialized health databases.
• Contrary to general recommendations, these multidisciplinary indexes demonstrated superior coverage of relevant qualitative literature.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary citation indexes like Scopus and Web of Science possess significant utility for qualitative search strategies in HTA.
• These databases can supplement traditional searches by providing unique qualitative records.
• Further investigation into utilizing Scopus for qualitative rapid review search strategies confirmed its potential to contribute relevant literature.