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TML News and Notes: May 2013

PRISMA for Abstracts: Reporting Systematic Reviews in Journal and Conference Abstracts

The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) group is known for the statement/standards it has issued in the past for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.  Recently though the group has also issue a statement about the best practices for abstracts that pertain to systematic reviews and conference abstracts.  A link to the statement, as well as the PRISMA website. 

Statement for Abstracts Link

PRISMA Website

 Summary Points of Statement for Abstracts

  • The abstract of a systematic review should provide a structured summary that enables a quick assessment of the review's validity and applicability, and easy identification in electronic searching.
  • Despite published guidance on writing the abstract in the PRISMA Statement guiding the reporting of systematic reviews in general and elsewhere, evaluations show that reporting of systematic reviews in journal and conference abstracts is poor.
  • We developed consensus-based reporting guidelines as an extension to the PRISMA Statement on good reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in abstracts.
  • The PRISMA for Abstracts checklist gives authors a framework for condensing their systematic review into the essentials for an abstract that will meet the needs of many readers.

(Beller, E. M., Glasziou, P. P., Altman, D. G., Hopewell, S., Bastian, H., Chalmers, I., ... & Tovey, D. (2013). PRISMA for Abstracts: Reporting Systematic Reviews in Journal and Conference Abstracts. PLoS medicine, 10(4), e1001419.)

Pet a Pooch with Dogs on Call

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Noon - 1:30 pm

Dogs on Call teams will be available in the library on May 7th at lunch time to help students de-stress during final exams. The Dogs on Call program is part of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at VCU Medical Center. Their mission is to improve health and well-being through human- animal interaction. For more information about the Center for Human-Animal Interaction visit http://www.chai.vcu.edu/petapooch.jpg