PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Natto, Zuhair S.
AU  - AlGhamdi, Doaa S.
TI  - Quality assessment of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in Saudi journals from 1997 to 2017
AID  - 10.15537/smj.2019.5.23690
DP  - 2019 May 01
TA  - Saudi Medical Journal
PG  - 426--431
VI  - 40
IP  - 5
4099  - http://smj.org.sa/content/40/5/426.short
4100  - http://smj.org.sa/content/40/5/426.full
SO  - Saudi Med J2019 May 01; 40
AB  - Objectives: To assess the quality of the meta-analyses (MAs) and systematic reviews (SRs) in Saudi journals indexed in PubMed using 2 scales: A MeaSurement tool to assess systematic reviews (AMSTAR) and the overview quality assessment questionnaire (OQAQ).Methods: This study focused on SRs/MAs published in 8 Saudi journals. We investigated, screened, and extracted the data, which included recording the main topic of each SRs/MAs and the date of publication. Furthermore, we assessed the quality of each included SRs/MAs using the AMSTAR and the OQAQ. The reviews concluded in January 2018.Results: The search uncovered 201 unique articles; of these, the researchers screened 110 full texts and included 103 in this review. Most of the included studies were published in Saudi Medical Journal (50 articles, 48.5%), followed by Saudi Journal of Gastroenterology (21 articles, 20.4%), and Annals of Saudi Medicine (16 articles, 15.5%). The main topics in these published articles were gastroenterology (20 articles, 19.5%), followed by oncology (14 articles, 13.7%), and pharmacology (9 articles, 8.7%). The AMSTAR and the OQAQ scales showed that most SRs/MAs were of medium quality.Conclusion: Quality of SRs and MAs published in Saudi journals was distributed in all categories (low, medium, and high) and it can be improved using critical evaluation by authors, journal editors, and readers.PROSPERO REG. NO. CRD: 42018102210