What's beyond the core? Database coverage in qualitative information retrieval.

Introduction:Decision-makers are increasingly recognizing the usefulness of qualitative research to inform patient-centered policy decisions, and are accordingly increasingly demanding qualitative evidence as part of health technology assessment (HTA). In the context of tight HTA timelines, a new form of evidence synthesis has emerged—rapid qualitative reviews. The need for rapidity requires either an increase in resources or, more commonly, a compromise in rigor, yet guidance on appropriate compromises for qualitative reviews is lacking.Methods:In order to inform de novo guidance, we conducted a systematic scoping review to identify existing guidance and published examples of rapid qualitative reviews. We searched Medline and CINAHL using medical subject headings and keywords related to “rapid reviews” and “qualitative” research, and screened the 1,771 resultant citations independently in duplicate. Additionally, we searched the grey literature and solicited examples from our contacts and other evidence-synthesis organizations. We summarized included guidance and reviews using the Search, AppraisaL, Synthesis, Analysis (SALSA) framework to identify abbreviations in the review process.Results:We found no guidance documents specific to rapid qualitative reviews. We found one published peer-reviewed rapid qualitative review, and several more (>10; grey literature search in process) through our organizational contacts. While methods to abbreviate the process are poorly reported, an abbreviated literature search (years and databases searched) and the use of a single reviewer appear common.Conclusions:A number of agencies are producing rapid qualitative reviews, however our review identifies the urgent need to develop and explore methods for the synthesis of qualitative research that balance rapidity and rigor.

ObjectivesThis scoping review aims to synthesize the literature on pediatric health technology assessments (HTAs) and map out the challenges of assessing new technologies for use in children, with a particular focus on pharmaceutical interventions.MethodsConducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute Methodology, this scoping review addressed HTAs in the pediatric domain through searches of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science Core Collection, and EconLit through 22 January 2024, as well as the gray literature. Sources were excluded if they (i) were a clinical trial investigating a specific technology or an HTA of that technology, (ii) did not address the challenges of HTAs, or (iii) had no relevance to pediatrics. Two authors performed screening and data extraction independently and in duplicate.ResultsOne hundred and three reports were included. Of these, sixty were full journal articles, twenty-three were conference abstracts, and twenty were guidelines, reports, and other documents. Two important themes emerged from this work. The first was the unique position of children within society and the resulting difficulty of incorporating them within a population-wide HTA system. The second was the uncertainty that characterized pediatric HTAs due to data constraints and either a lack of guidance by HTA bodies or variations in guidance between bodies.ConclusionsMany factors inherent to children, including the heterogeneity of pediatric disease populations, long-term outcomes, and children’s distinct social positions, render conducting pediatric HTAs challenging. Innovative approaches are required to address these challenges and respond to the needs of pediatric populations.

Librarians, informationists, researchers, health policymakers, and health care professionals retrieve reports of health technology assessments (HTAs) to review the evidence on medical, socioeconomic, and ethical implications of health care and health care investments [1]. These assessments are a useful type of gray literature that include cost-benefit analyses of health interventions, syntheses of intervention research findings, and discussion of the economic implications of health care and medical technology [2]. The HTA Database Canadian Repository is a new, valuable tool that aggregates these assessments and makes them findable via a convenient search interface. This international repository includes records for in-progress and published reports of HTAs, reviews, guidelines, protocols, journals, and articles. Launched in January of 2015, the database includes records beginning in 2003. The HTA Database is funded by the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and administered by the University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. The Canadian repository aggregates HTA records from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and pan-Canadian agencies (CADTH) in addition to records from the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA). The database includes reports from 93 INAHTA and other international repositories [3]. All records and documents are translated into English, French, and/or Spanish, representing about 20 source languages. As of May 2015, the Canadian repository contains over 14,000 unique records; approximately 2,400 are Canadian. Canadian search interface The Canadian interface for the HTA Database is free for noncommercial use [4]. The basic search can include title, full text, province, author, agency, and funder. Additional options allow the user to limit searches to Canadian databases, Canadian and international HTA databases, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Cochrane reviews, and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) of assessed economic evaluations. While items in the DARE and NHS EED databases are critically appraised—in other words, reviewed for trustworthiness, value, and contextual relevance—items in the HTA database are not. However, if a critical appraisal exists, it is linked with the HTA database record [1]. Other search criteria include record date, publication year, and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) term search. While search text can be truncated and wildcards accepted, special characters, such as the German umlaut, are not. Search results include year—although it is unclear if this indicates publication or record year—source database, source agency, and title. Although additional metadata exist for each record, search queries are limited to the basic metadata only. The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT are available, as well as the proximity operators NEAR and ADJ. Using proximity operators and restricting searches to specific fields (e.g., author [:au], title [:ti], language [:lp], source journal [:so], and funding [xfu]) are particularly helpful when performing advanced, full-text, and keyword searches. The MeSH terminology search is also helpful, if not ideal. MeSH terms can be searched by string (permut), stemming, or tree criteria, but combinations of terms cannot be selected for post-coordinated searching by index concept. Terms selected for searching are not visible in the interface for review or modification; using the interface can be frustrating when executing a high volume of advanced or expert searches. Also, terms cannot be exploded, and MeSH terms are not accompanied by MeSH tree numbers. This is significant for content and keyword analysis, because the tree number indicates the context of the MeSH term. Overall, the MeSH terminology search will not hinder basic or advanced terminology searches but may hinder expert searches. Records can be exported in hypertext markup language (HTML) format; however, downloading full-text reports, when available, must be done one-by-one on a case-by-case basis. Metadata Each record notes the title, agency location, publisher, year of publication, publication type, agency-assigned MeSH terms, HTA accession number, language, source database, and uniform resource locator (URL), along with other metadata. Some metadata are unique to the database from which they derive. For example, metadata vary in records from DARE, NHS EED, or HTA. Conformity of metadata is primarily applied when agencies upload records and input their metadata through the HTA interface. Considerations and advantages For record inclusion, the HTA Database has an “extremely flexible definition of what constitutes a health technology assessment,” which, although potentially beneficial to a variety of users, does not provide a reliable description of publications included in the database [3]. As a result, the database also contains records such as protocols for systematic reviews and care guidelines. Also, documentation is incomplete for metadata fields and database coverage, and there are no descriptions of governance policies. For example, in reviewing a sample of records, we found that not all metadata fields include the same type of information; however, this was a minor occurrence. As a final note, records appear to be added weekly, but since agencies add content on a voluntary basis, frequency of updates varies. The HTA Database Canadian repository and its interface will be helpful to librarians who support HTA investigators and policymakers, as well as patrons interested in assessments of health and health technologies. This new resource facilitates information retrieval and research and may reduce costly duplication of effort by enabling queries of both Canadian and international databases via one search interface. Additionally, the search interface enables discovery of gray literature that is otherwise unavailable or subject to purchase. Although its interface does not support expert searching, the superior aggregation of content makes the HTA Database Canadian Repository a valuable resource.

Using preprints in evidence synthesis: Commentary on experience during the COVID-19 pandemic

Search Strategy and Review Methods A structured literature search was conducted to identify publications addressing the early post-resuscitation phase following return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), with particular focus on prehospital management and the interval preceding hospital handover. The search strategy was structured around four conceptual domains: (1) population – out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; (2) physiological state – return of spontaneous circulation; (3) setting – emergency medical services and prehospital care; and (4) processes of interest – early post-ROSC management, recurrent cardiac arrest (rearrest), monitoring, transport and hospital handover. Electronic searches were performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection. Search queries combined controlled vocabulary (e.g. MeSH terms) and free-text terms related to OHCA, ROSC, emergency medical services and post-resuscitation processes including rearrest, monitoring, transport and hospital handover. Search strategies were iteratively refined to improve specificity for literature addressing early post-ROSC prehospital care and transport-related decision making. Searches were limited to publications in English published between 1990 and 2025. Detailed database queries are provided in the associated search strings document. Studies were eligible if they addressed adult patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who achieved ROSC and described clinical, physiological or operational aspects of the prehospital phase preceding hospital handover. Publications examining rearrest, post-ROSC physiological instability, monitoring strategies, transport preparation, destination decisions, pre-notification or early post-resuscitation management in the EMS setting were considered relevant. Observational studies, registry analyses, clinical reviews, guideline documents and relevant methodological publications were eligible for inclusion. Studies focused exclusively on in-hospital cardiac arrest, paediatric populations or purely in-hospital post-resuscitation care without relevance to the prehospital phase were excluded. Titles and abstracts were screened independently by two reviewers to assess relevance to the research question. Full texts of potentially relevant publications were subsequently reviewed for eligibility. Disagreements were resolved by discussion and consensus. Included studies were synthesised using a structured narrative approach designed to integrate heterogeneous evidence relevant to the early post-ROSC phase in the prehospital environment. Studies were grouped according to thematic domains reflecting key aspects of care during the ROSC-to-handover interval, including physiological instability after ROSC, mechanisms and recognition of rearrest, monitoring and stabilisation strategies, operational traps during the post-resuscitation phase, preparation for transport, transport environment and destination decisions, and communication with receiving hospitals. Because the objective of the review was conceptual and integrative, the synthesis focused on identifying recurring physiological mechanisms, operational challenges and system-level considerations rather than performing quantitative pooling of results. Evidence was interpreted with attention to study design, EMS system characteristics and methodological limitations. This narrative synthesis aimed to develop an integrated conceptual framework describing the ROSC-to-handover interval as a distinct clinical–operational phase linking resuscitation and definitive post-cardiac arrest care. PubMed / MEDLINE search strategy (("Heart Arrest"[Mesh] OR "cardiac arrest"[tiab] OR "out-of-hospital cardiac arrest"[tiab] OR OHCA[tiab]) AND ("Return of Spontaneous Circulation"[Mesh] OR "return of spontaneous circulation"[tiab] OR ROSC[tiab]) AND ("Emergency Medical Services"[Mesh] OR prehospital[tiab] OR "pre-hospital"[tiab] OR EMS[tiab] OR "prehospital care"[tiab]) AND ("post-resuscitation"[tiab] OR "post cardiac arrest"[tiab] OR rearrest[tiab] OR "re-arrest"[tiab] OR transport[tiab] OR handover[tiab] OR destination[tiab] OR bypass[tiab])) Filters: English Scopus search strategy TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( "out-of-hospital cardiac arrest" OR OHCA OR "cardiac arrest" ) AND ( "return of spontaneous circulation" OR ROSC ) AND ( prehospital OR "pre-hospital" OR "emergency medical services" OR EMS ) AND ( "post-resuscitation care" OR "post cardiac arrest care" OR rearrest OR "re-arrest" OR transport OR handover OR destination OR bypass ) ) AND ( LIMIT-TO ( LANGUAGE , "English" ) ) Web of Science search strategy TS=(("out-of-hospital cardiac arrest" OR OHCA OR "cardiac arrest") AND ("return of spontaneous circulation" OR ROSC) AND (prehospital OR "pre-hospital" OR "emergency medical services" OR EMS) AND ("post-resuscitation care" OR "post cardiac arrest care" OR rearrest OR "re-arrest" OR transport OR handover OR destination OR bypass)) Literature identification and screening The database search performed on xxxx XX, 2026 identified the following records: PubMed/MEDLINE (n = xxx ) Scopus (n = xxx ) Web of Science Core Collection (n = xxx) A total of xxxx records were identified across the three databases. After removal of duplicates, the remaining records were screened based on titles and abstracts to assess relevance to the research question. Potentially relevant articles were retrieved for full-text assessment. Publications were excluded if they focused exclusively on in-hospital post-resuscitation care, paediatric populations, or topics unrelated to the early post-ROSC phase in the prehospital environment. Studies addressing physiological stabilisation after ROSC, monitoring strategies, mechanisms of rearrest, transport preparation, destination decisions and hospital pre-notification were considered eligible for qualitative synthesis. The final set of included studies was used to inform the narrative synthesis and conceptual framework describing the ROSC-to-handover interval presented in the main manuscript.

Which Helicobacter pylori publications in the Web of Science are classic? This study identified classic papers by referring to the Science Citation Index Expanded, which covers 59,904 documents related Helicobacter pylori publications in the Web of Science from 1900 to 2016. The present paper lists classic Helicobacter pylori papers published between 1991 and 2007. Classic documents that have been cited at least 1,000 times from the Web of Science Core Collection were assessed regarding language of publication, document type publication outputs, distribution of outputs in journals and Web of Science categories, publications of authors, institutions, countries as well as citation life cycles of classic documents. An article published by Parsonnet et al. in 1991 obtained the highest number of citations from the Web of Science Core Collection during the period from its initial publication to the end of 2016. The most impactful article in 2016 was published by Uemura et al. in 2001 with 163 citations in 2016. In addition, results showed that three main research focuses in H. pylori study were gastric cancer, low-grade gastric lymphoma, and the CagA gene.

Variation in Results of Three Biology‐Focused Search Engines: A Case Study Using North American Tree Species

Urinary tract infection is the most diagnosed infection in older people. It accounts for more than 50% of antibiotic prescriptions in care homes and is a frequent reason for care home residents being hospitalised. This realist review developed and refined programme theories for preventing and recognising urinary tract infection, exploring what works, for whom and in what circumstances. The review used realist synthesis to explore existing literature on the detection and prevention of urinary tract infection, complemented by stakeholder consultation. It applies to the UK context, although other healthcare systems may identify synergies in our findings. Bibliographic databases searched included MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Web of Science Core Collection (including the Social Sciences Citation Index), Sociological Abstracts, Bibliomap and National Institute for Health and Care Research Journals Library. Title and abstract screening were undertaken by two researchers independently of each other. Selection and assessment were based on relevance and rigour and cross-checked by a second researcher. Data extracted from the included studies were explored for explanations about how the interventions were considered to work (or not). Evidence tables were constructed to enable identification of patterns across studies that offered insight about the features of successful interventions. Programme theories were constructed through a four-stage process involving scoping workshops, examination of relevant extant theory, analysis and synthesis of primary research, teacher-learner interviews and a cross-system stakeholder event. A process of abductive and retroductive reasoning was used to construct context-mechanism-outcome configurations to inform programme theory. The scoping review and stakeholder engagement identified three theory areas that address the prevention and recognition of urinary tract infection and show what is needed to implement best practice. Nine context-mechanism-outcome configurations provided an explanation of how interventions to prevent and recognise urinary tract infection might work in care homes. These were (1) recognition of urinary tract infection is informed by skills in clinical reasoning, (2) decision-support tools enable a whole care team approach to communication, (3) active monitoring is recognised as a legitimate care routine, (4) hydration is recognised as a care priority for all residents, (5) systems are in place to drive action that helps residents to drink more, (6) good infection prevention practice is applied to indwelling urinary catheters, (7) proactive strategies are in place to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection, (8) care home leadership and culture fosters safe fundamental care and (9) developing knowledgeable care teams. We adapted our approach and work to online interactions with stakeholders and as a research team because of COVID-19. This also had an impact on bringing stakeholders together at a face-to-face event at the end of the project. Studies focusing on the prevention of urinary tract infection in care home settings were predominantly from the USA and Europe where the regulatory and funding systems for the long-term care of the elderly have some differences, particularly in the USA where national reporting plays a significant role in driving improvements in care. Care home staff have a vital role in the prevention and recognition of urinary tract infection, which can be enabled through integration and prioritisation within the systems and routines of care homes and delivery of person-centred care. Promoting fundamental care as a means of facilitating a holistic approach to prevention and recognition of urinary tract infection helps staff to recognise how they can contribute to antimicrobial stewardship and recognition of sepsis. Challenging assumptions made by staff about the presentation of urinary tract infection is complex and requires education that facilitates 'unlearning' and questioning of low-value practices. Programmes to prevent urinary tract infection need to be co-designed and supported through active and visible leadership by care home managers with support from specialist practitioners. We will focus on co-designing tools that facilitate implementation of our findings to ensure they fit with the care home context and address some of the challenges faced by care home leaders. This will underpin action at care home and system levels. Further research is needed to better understand the perspectives of residents and family carers, the effectiveness of non-pharmacological, pharmacological and specialist practitioner interventions and non-traditional approaches to training and educating the workforce in care home settings. This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42020201782. This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme (NIHR award ref: NIHR130396) and is published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 28, No. 68. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus: A systematic comparison of citations in 252 subject categories

Dementia is a chronic, progressive and ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disease. Advanced dementia is characterised by profound cognitive impairment, inability to communicate verbally and complete functional dependence. Usual care of people with advanced dementia is not underpinned universally by a palliative approach. Palliative care has focused traditionally on care of people with cancer but for more than a decade, there have been increased calls worldwide to extend palliative care services to include all people with life-limiting illnesses in need of specialist care, including people with dementia. To assess the effect of palliative care interventions in advanced dementia and to report on the range of outcome measures used. We searched ALOIS, the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group's Specialized Register on 4 February 2016. ALOIS contains records of clinical trials identified from monthly searches of several major healthcare databases, trial registries and grey literature sources. We ran additional searches across MEDLINE (OvidSP), Embase (OvidSP), PsycINFO (OvidSP), CINAHL (EBSCOhost), LILACS (BIREME), Web of Science Core Collection (ISI Web of Science), ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization ICTRP trial portal to ensure that the searches were as comprehensive and as up-to-date as possible. We searched for randomised (RCT) and non-randomised controlled trials (nRCT), controlled before-and-after studies (CBA) and interrupted time series studies evaluating the impact of palliative care interventions for adults with dementia of any type, staged as advanced dementia by a recognised and validated tool. Participants could be people with advanced dementia, their family members, clinicians or paid care staff. We included clinical interventions and non-clinical interventions. Comparators were usual care or another palliative care intervention. We did not exclude studies on the basis of outcomes measured and recorded all outcomes measured in included studies. Two review authors independently assessed for inclusion all the potential studies we identified as a result of the search strategy. We resolved any disagreement through discussion or, when required, consulted with the rest of the review team. We independently extracted data and conducted assessment of methodological quality, using standard Cochrane methods. We identified two studies of palliative care interventions for people with advanced dementia. We did not pool data due to the heterogeneity between the two trials in terms of the interventions and the settings. The two studies measured 31 different outcomes, yet they did not measure the same outcome. There are six ongoing studies that we expect to include in future versions of this review.Both studies were at high risk of bias, in part because blinding was not possible. This and small sample sizes meant that the overall certainty of all the evidence was very low.One individually randomised RCT (99 participants) evaluated the effect of a palliative care team for people with advanced dementia hospitalised for an acute illness. While this trial reported that a palliative care plan was more likely to be developed for participants in the intervention group (risk ratio (RR) 5.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.37 to 25.02), the plan was only adopted for two participants, both in the intervention group, while in hospital. The palliative care plan was more likely to be available on discharge in the intervention group (RR 4.50, 95% CI 1.03 to 19.75). We found no evidence that the intervention affected mortality in hospital (RR 1.06, 95% CI 0.53 to 2.13), decisions to forgo cardiopulmonary resuscitation in hospital or the clinical care provided during hospital admission, but for the latter, event rates were low and the results were associated with a lot of uncertainty.One cluster RCT (256 participants, each enrolled with a family carer) evaluated the effect of a decision aid on end-of-life feeding options on surrogate decision-makers of nursing home residents with advanced dementia. Data for 90 participants (35% of the original study) met the definition of advanced dementia for this review and were re-analysed for the purposes of the review. In this subset, intervention surrogates had lower scores for decisional conflict measured on the Decisional Conflict Scale (mean difference -0.30, 95% CI -0.61 to 0.01, reduction of 0.3 to 0.4 units considered meaningful) and were more likely than participants in the control group to discuss feeding options with a clinician (RR 1.57, 95% CI 0.93 to 2.64), but imprecision meant that there was significant uncertainty about both results. Very little high quality work has been completed exploring palliative care interventions in advanced dementia. There were only two included studies in this review, with variation in the interventions and in the settings that made it impossible to conduct a meta-analysis of data for any outcome. Thus, we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to assess the effect of palliative care interventions in advanced dementia. The fact that there are six ongoing studies at the time of this review indicates an increased interest in this area by researchers, which is welcome and needed.

Review question/objective The objective of this systematic review is to provide a narrative summary synthesis of the quality of existing Husserlian phenomenological research studies in the health sciences. As a methodological systematic review, only studies that focus on adult patients’ experiences of preventive, screening, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation interventions/procedures will be considered to serve as a paradigm “case” of the use of the Husserlian phenomenological approach within the broad field of health. The review question is: What is the quality of existing Husserlian phenomenological research studies in the health sciences? The motivation for this systematic review is not to fault authors of existing Husserlian phenomenological research, but to explore the problems encountered in existing research literature, if any, and to provide guidance to authors for future health research guided by this specific philosophical perspective. In order to avoid repetition, the term ‘Husserlian phenomenological approach’ as used in the text refers to the approach described by Edmund Husserl in English translations of his own published work; or as described in English language commentaries by internationally recognized scholars; or from Husserlian phenomenological scholars including the structured framework presented by Spiegelberg. Each time the ‘content of Husserlian phenomenological research studies’ is used in the text it should be understood to mean ‘content of Husserlian phenomenological research studies as reflected in the stated philosophical perspective, research methodology, data collection methods, data analysis methods, presentation and interpretation of the results, and the conclusions’. Definition of terms: 1. Husserlian phenomenological research studies refers to primary qualitative research studies that are explicitly grounded in the work of Husserl reflected in explicit statements or descriptions by the authors. 2. Quality refers to the extent to which there is congruence between the Husserlian phenomenological approach and the content of Husserlian phenomenological research studies. These stipulative definitions are intended to preclude the need to cite the scientific literature as there is no need to demonstrate their ‘validity’ or ‘acceptability’ by the communities of scholars. TRUNCATED AT 350 WORDS.

IntroductionThere is a range of activities that health technology assessment (HTA) doers have started to improve the process of generation of required evidence for new technologies, and the alignment of regulatory and reimbursement processes that retard the access to patients to them. Different organizations call those processes early advice, early dialogue, or scientific advice to those activities.MethodsWe performed a systematic review of the activities named scientific advice (SA), early advice (EA) and early dialogue (ED). Major databases and HTA organizations were explored. The protocol and search strategy were published in PROSPERO. The selection of final articles and documents was done in pairs, and when discrepancies were found a third person resolved with the consensus of the others. A matrix was used to define the commonalities and differences of the described processes.ResultsWe initially retrieved 949 documents, after the analysis of duplications and the full text reading of the selected ones, we finally selected 39 documents and described: the type of technologies, the process, the stakeholders, the duration, the costs, and the impact. Big HTA agencies such as the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) or the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) included EA or SA among their portfolio of activities as well as networks (European Network for HTA (EUnetHTA) or smaller agencies such as HTA Wales or Basque Office for HTA (Osteba) among others. The type of activity, the process, duration, purpose and costs differ among HTA doers.ConclusionsThere is a need to define what we meant when we are talking about SA, ED, and EA. In fact, regulators used the same processes with different purposes. Our systematic review and the lessons learnt from the European-funded SAFENMEDTECH project will propose a detailed framework that can be useful to better understanding the needs of each of the involved parties and how to make the processes involved more efficient.

Substantial research on the topic of cultural heritage has been conducted over the past two decades. At the same time, the overall output volume of journals and citation metrics have become important parameters in assessing and ranking researchers’ performance. Even though the scholarly interest in cultural heritage has recently increased world-wide, a comprehensive analysis of the publication output volume and its correlation to the shift in the cultural heritage regime starting in 2003 is still lacking. The article aims to understand the role of Web of Science (WOS) as a tool of knowledge management in academia by drawing on the scholarly output volume, the patterns displayed by this volume, and the intellectual structure of cultural heritage research based on WOS-indexed journal articles. The data include 1843 journal articles published between 2003 and 2022 and indexed in the WOS Core Collection. The article draws on a bibliometric analysis by using WOS tools and employing VOSviewer software to map and visualize hidden patterns of research collaboration and avenues of knowledge progress. The cultural heritage research indexed in WOS was found to be Eurocentric, corresponding to the increasing funding provided by European national and supranational agencies for research funding. Although the indexed research has grown significantly, the bulk of studies on cultural heritage in WOS is concentrated in a reduced number of European institutions and countries, written by a small number of prolific authors, with relatively poor collaborative ties emerging across time between authors, institutions, and countries. The central themes reflect the development of digital technologies and increased participatory emphasis in cultural heritage care. This article brings new insights into the analysis of the cultural heritage research in correlation with the emergence of international heritage governance with new institutional actors, professional networks, and international agreements, which are all constitutive elements of scientific production. The article seeks to critically assess and discuss the results and the role of WOS as a tool of knowledge management in academia.

INTRODUCTION:Faced with increasing financial challenges to the single-payer social security system and constitutional challenges supporting all citizen's right to health, Costa Rica has endeavored to introduce Health Technology Assessment (HTA) to ensure sustainability and promote the timely introduction of technology innovations in the health system. The Ministry of Health initiated a process to establish an independent, external institution providing leadership in the process of HTA.METHODS:Based on a survey developed by REDETSA/PAHO (HTA Network of the Americas/Pan American Health Organization), an inclusive method of stakeholders participation was used to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats regarding the implementation of an HTA entity. This was combined with qualitative research methods, market access situation analysis and the review of coverage and provision processes to define the elements for the new HTA institution. The “in-depth” interviews extended to manufacturers, ministry representatives, services providers, purchasers, patients and citizens representatives, judiciary court, professional colleges, academia and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Analysis of the professional competencies required for the HTA institution was carried out based on best practice analysis of international HTA institutions.RESULTS:The implementation of an HTA unit in Costa Rica was identified by all the actors as crucial to ensuring the health system's sustainability. Costa Rica's health system is based on all citizens right to health and all inputs required delivering health services, judicialization and access to health care have become a big issue. Two main issues were identified as essential to implement an HTA institution: the establishment of a clear framework to provide legal and financial support and the need to have sufficient independence from the Ministry and the Social Security, including maximum transparency and methodological robustness.CONCLUSIONS:The business model for the new HTA institution should consider the participation of all the interested actors. The HTA institution should bridge the gap between technology regulation and health technology management and aim to improve both processes. It should also provide third party independent evidence to inform the constitutional court around health care claims.

Qualitative research in dementia improves understanding of the experience of people affected by dementia. Searching databases for qualitative studies is problematic. Qualitative-specific search strategies might help with locating studies. To examine the effectiveness (sensitivity and precision) of 5 qualitative strategies on locating qualitative research studies in dementia in 4 major databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL). Qualitative dementia studies were checked for inclusion on MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. Five qualitative search strategies (subject headings, simple free-text terms, complex free-text terms, and 2 broad-based strategies) were tested for study retrieval. Specificity, precision and number needed to read were calculated. Two hundred fourteen qualitative studies in dementia were included. PsycINFO and CINAHL held the most qualitative studies out the 4 databases studied (N=171 and 166, respectively) and both held unique records (N=14 and 7, respectively). The controlled vocabulary strategy in CINAHL returned 96% (N=192) of studies held; by contrast, controlled vocabulary in PsycINFO returned 7% (N=13) of studies held. The broad-based strategies returned more studies (93-99%) than the other free-text strategies (22-82%). Precision ranged from 0.061 to 0.004 resulting in a number needed to read to obtain 1 relevant study ranging from 16 (simple free-text search in CINAHL) to 239 (broad-based search in EMBASE). Qualitative search strategies using 3 broad terms were more sensitive than long complex searches. The controlled vocabulary for qualitative research in CINAHL was particularly effective. Furthermore, results indicate that MEDLINE and EMBASE offer little benefit for locating qualitative dementia research if CINAHL and PSYCINFO are also searched.