Stage 2: Developing the Search: Contacting Authors & Experts
Contacting Authors and Experts
Experts in the field can offer invaluable resources for finding relevant literature. Some resources they can suggest are:
Studies that you may have missed
Grey literature that you may not have considered
Informative suggestions related to your search
Studies that you may have missed
Grey literature that you may not have considered
Informative suggestions related to your searchWhy Should I Contact Authors?
Sometimes, data is left out of published research. For this reason, it is a good idea to contact the author of the study to potentially acquire their datasets.
When reaching out to authors, use open-ended questions when asking authors for information regarding the study's design and its procedure (Cochrane Handbook, 2017). This is because asking direct questions "may lead to overly positive answers", which could introduce bias to the review.