Search request service - for researchers

Are you planning on conducting a systematic review and need help with the literature search? If this is the case, contact the search request service at the University Library. We assist researchers at Karolinska Institutet in designing search strategies, conducting searches in multiple databases and creating a transparent documentation. Submit your request via our request form and we will get back to you.

Who can order a search request?

Search requests are a free service for researchers at Karolinska Institutet. Doctoral students who are doing a systematic review as part of their thesis are also welcome to order a search request.

At present, we are not able to carry out requests for external customers.

If you are a Bachelor's or Master's student, or a doctoral student writing a literature review for the half-time summary, please book a consultation in information searching.

What kind of projects do we help with?

We perform search requests for projects that include some kind of systematic evidence synthesis, such as:

  • Systematic reviews
  • Scoping reviews
  • Rapid reviews

Order a search request

To order a search request, please fill out our form.

How do we conduct search requests?

We start with a meeting, where we discuss the research question, delimitations, search terms, databases to search in, etc. Before the meeting, it is good if you:

  • Conduct a search in PROSPERO to ensure no similar projects are underway already.
  • Familiarise yourself with Covidence, a software that supports several parts of the systematic review process, such as screening, risk of bias assessment and data extraction.
  • Start writing a protocol for your systematic review. Protocols can be registered in PROSPERO or in an open repository such as Open Science Framework or Figshare. The protocol should be registered before the screening of studies begins.

After the start-up meeting, we will conduct a test search in one database, and send it to you. You will then have the opportunity to comment and give feedback on the search.

After any adjustments and additions to the test search, we will translate the search strategy into all the databases we have agreed to search in.

Once the search is complete, we will send you the search documentation, including a description of how the search was conducted.

We upload the results from all databases into Covidence, where duplicates between databases are removed. We can also send the results in other agreed formats, for example in an EndNote library.

Prior to publication, we are happy to help update the search to include recently published research.

Contact us

If you have questions about search requests, please contact us at kib@ki.se.

If you are not conducting a systematic review but need guidance in searching the literature in general, or plan to start a review project in the future, feel free to book an individual consultation. 

Hand in front of computer

Search requests for researchers

If you are a researcher and need help with literature searches, for example in a systematic review, please contact the search group.

Portfolio

Examples of publications from the last two years where the search group participated

2024

2023

2022

2021

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Editor: University Library Web Team
Last updated: 2024-11-19