The Industry Researcher’s Guide to Effective Literature Searching

There are few tools for food science topics, and much is borrowed from health/medical research, but some of these tools may be useful to you in improving your search skills, assessing quality of evidence, and reporting your research methodology and results. If you wish to explore some other resources, the following list is aimed as a guide only. Please let us know if you wish to add to it.

• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
• Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) – eight critical appraisal tools designed to be used when reading research.
• Equator Network – for health research.
• European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Tools – for critically appraising different study designs
• GRADE – an approach to assess evidence.
• Grey literature in the health sciences – University of Pennsylvania Libraries.
• Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools — checklists for healthcare studies.
• Meridian – reporting standards that can help improve search quality in animal research are collated.
• National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools – Canadian resources for evidence-informed public health.
• PRISMA – focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions.
• REFLECT – a checklist for livestock trials including randomised, challenge and field trials looking at production, health, and food-safety outcomes.
• STROBE-Vet statement is a modification of the STROBE statement for use in reporting studies undertaken in animal populations.
• SYREAF – a rich resource about Systematic Reviews for Animals and Food with tutorials and guidance on each step of conducting a systematic review in this area.