Reporting systematic reviews: Some lessons from a tertiary study

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBudgen, D.
dc.contributor.authorBrereton, P.
dc.contributor.authorDrummond, S.
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, N.
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-13T14:34:18Z
dc.date.available2018-02-13T14:34:18Z
dc.date.issued2017-10-27
dc.description.abstractContext Many of the systematic reviews published in software engineering are related to research or methodological issues and hence are unlikely to be of direct benefit to practitioners or teachers. Those that are relevant to practice and teaching need to be presented in a form that makes their findings usable with minimum interpretation. Objective We have examined a sample of the many systematic reviews that have been published over a period of six years, in order to assess how well these are reported and identify useful lessons about how this might be done. Method We undertook a tertiary study, performing a systematic review of systematic reviews. Our study found 178 systematic reviews published in a set of major software engineering journals over the period 2010–2015. Of these, 37 provided recommendations or conclusions of relevance to education and/or practice and we used the DARE criteria as well as other attributes related to the systematic review process to analyse how well they were reported. Results We have derived a set of 12 ‘lessons’ that could help authors with reporting the outcomes of a systematic review in software engineering. We also provide an associated checklist for use by journal and conference referees. Conclusion There are several areas where better reporting is needed, including quality assessment, synthesis, and the procedures followed by the reviewers. Researchers, practitioners, teachers and journal referees would all benefit from better reporting of systematic reviews, both for clarity and also for establishing the provenance of any findings.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationBudgen D, Brereton P, Drummond S, Williams N. (2017) Reporting systematic reviews: Some lessons from a tertiary study. Information and Software Technology, Volume 95, March 2018, pp. 62-74en_UK
dc.identifier.cris18797873
dc.identifier.uri
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2017.10.017
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/12994
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherElsevieren_UK
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.titleReporting systematic reviews: Some lessons from a tertiary studyen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Reporting_systematic_reviews-2018.pdf
Size:
313.61 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.63 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Staff publications (CDS)