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Purpose: Properly conducted controlled clinical trials (CCTs) provide the highest level of evidence for optimising decision-making in healthcare. Electronic search strategies do not exhaustively retrieve them, because of issues related to indexing, exclusion of journals in languages other than English, among others. A handsearch approach is therefore warranted. We aimed to identify all CCTs published in Ophthalmology journals in Spain, to describe their main features, and to submit them to the Cochrane Register of CCTs (CENTRAL)., Methods: After identifying all Spanish Ophthalmology Journals, we conducted a systematic handsearch following Cochrane guidelines. When appropriate, results were compared against electronic searches. A descriptive analysis was completed, including risk of bias assessment., Results: We identified 18 eligible journals; 10 074 original articles, editorials, letters to the editor, abstracts and conference proceedings were assessed via handsearching for inclusion. Of these, 136 were subject to title and abstract screening, after which 102 were classified as CCTs. We identified three articles via electronic searches that had not been detected via handsearch, for a total of 105 CCTs. Among these, the most investigated pathologies were cataracts (32/105; 30.5%) and glaucoma (23/105 21.9%). Regarding risk of bias, 104/105 (99.0%) were deemed as "high risk of bias", mainly due to flaws in sequence generation and allocation concealment. 15/105 (14.3%) mentioned conflicts of interest, half of which had something to declare. No CCT reported adherence to CONSORT., Conclusion: Spanish Ophthalmology journals publish a low number of CCTs, with limited methodological quality. Handsearching was more sensitive than the electronic searching. Abbreviations CCT: Controlled clinical trial.

Background: To identify controlled clinical trials (CCTs) published in Spanish and in Latin American dental journals, and provide access to this body of evidence in a single source., Methods: Handsearching, following Cochrane Collaboration guidelines, of CCTs published in Spanish dental journals from Spain and Latin America. For each eligible trial, we collected the dental specialty, the interventions evaluated, whether and how randomisation was achieved, and the corresponding bibliographic reference., Results: We handsearched 107 journals published in Spain and Latin America in Spanish. Over 17 051 articles, 244 (1.43%) were CCTs. These studies focused mainly on periodontics (70, 29.0%) and oral and maxillofacial surgery (66, 27.0%), assessing mostly pharmacological interventions (112, 46.0%). One hundred fifty-three studies (62.7%) used a random allocation of participants to study arms., Conclusions: A significant number of dental journals published in Spain and Latin America in Spanish language present original research relevant to inform clinical practice. These journals are not indexed in the major electronic databases., Practical Implications: References to the identified CCTs are now available in CENTRAL, the Cochrane Collaboration repository for these studies. We call for adherence to the CONSORT statement in dentistry to improve reporting of CCTs in journals published in Spanish language., (© 2018 Health Libraries Group.)

Background: Systematic reviews provide the best evidence on the effect of health care interventions. They rely on comprehensive access to the available scientific literature. Electronic search strategies alone may not suffice, requiring the implementation of a handsearching approach. We have developed a database to provide an Internet-based platform from which handsearching activities can be coordinated, including a procedure to streamline the submission of these references into CENTRAL, the Cochrane Collaboration Central Register of Controlled Trials., Methods: We developed a database and a descriptive analysis. Through brainstorming and discussion among stakeholders involved in handsearching projects, we designed a database that met identified needs that had to be addressed in order to ensure the viability of handsearching activities. Three handsearching teams pilot tested the proposed database. Once the final version of the database was approved, we proceeded to train the staff involved in handsearching., Results: The proposed database is called BADERI (Database of Iberoamerican Clinical Trials and Journals, by its initials in Spanish). BADERI was officially launched in October 2015, and it can be accessed at www.baderi.com/login.php free of cost. BADERI has an administration subsection, from which the roles of users are managed; a references subsection, where information associated to identified controlled clinical trials (CCTs) can be entered; a reports subsection, from which reports can be generated to track and analyse the results of handsearching activities; and a built-in free text search engine. BADERI allows all references to be exported in ProCite files that can be directly uploaded into CENTRAL. To date, 6284 references to CCTs have been uploaded to BADERI and sent to CENTRAL. The identified CCTs were published in a total of 420 journals related to 46 medical specialties. The year of publication ranged between 1957 and 2016., Conclusions: BADERI allows the efficient management of handsearching activities across different countries and institutions. References to all CCTs available in BADERI can be readily submitted to CENTRAL for their potential inclusion in systematic reviews.

Objectives: To identify and describe controlled clinical trials (CCTs) published in Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics journals. In addition, to assess the quality of the CCTs on Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART) identified in this project., Study Design: In order to identify eligible CCTs, all Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics journals were handsearched. Handsearching was conducted following the guidelines provided by the Cochrane Collaboration, which state that each journal article must be carefully reviewed, including original articles and other types of studies, letters to the editor, abstracts, and conference presentations. The results of the handsearching process were compared with an electronic search conducted in MEDLINE (PubMed). A descriptive analysis of the main characteristics of the identified CCTs was performed, as well as a methodological assessment of CCTs on ART., Results: Sixteen Gynaecology and Obstetrics journals were identified, four of which have been indexed in MEDLINE at some point, although not currently. The journal with the most CCTs was "Progresos de Obstetricia y Ginecología". A total of 235 CCTs were published in these journals, of which 29 were on ART. Most CCTs (216, 91.9%) were carried out in a hospital setting; 201 (89.4%) were unicentric. Obstetrics was the most studied subspecialty (46.4%). Among CCTs on ART, the risk of bias was predominantly high., Conclusions: The number of CCTs published in Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics journals is limited. CCTs on ART present deficiencies in the report of results and low methodological quality. It is advised that authors and journals adhere to the CONSORT statement and to the Cochrane Collaboration recommendations to reduce risk of bias when designing and disseminating research projects., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)