Seventeenth Annual Science Studies Symposium

Amy Riegelman, Social Sciences and Evidence Synthesis Librarian, will discuss systematic reviews, meta-analyses and related evidence synthesis (ES) methodologies.

Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and related evidence synthesis (ES) methodologies provide the highest level of evidence to inform policy and practice. Synthesizing all the available evidence requires a comprehensive literature search which typically includes both peer-reviewed and grey literature. The rigor of the literature searches could influence the validity of the synthesis and recommendations which could have downstream implications (e.g., policy, practice). Medical librarianship has supported (ES) methods for decades; with disciplines outside of the health sciences engaging more with ES methods, social science and science librarians have had to adapt through training. To meet the needs of subject librarians supporting disciplines outside the health sciences, librarians at the University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell (with funding from IMLS) created the Evidence Synthesis Institute, a training program and online course.