Evidence mapping for decision making: feasibility versus accuracy – when to abandon high sensitivity in electronic searches

Background: Mapping the evidence is a relatively new methodological approach and may be helpful for the development of research questions and decisions about their relevance and priority. However, the amount of data available today leads to challenges for scientists sometimes being confronted with literature searches retrieving over 30,000 results for screening. Methods: We investigated the topic of diabetes and driving concerning its feasibility for a full systematic evaluation. Based on a systematic review, our searches were limited to publications from 2002 to present in the English and German language. We also compared a highly sensitive search with a highly specific one. Results: Due to the strongly focused topic and the limits, our sensitive search identified a manageable number of references including sufficient evidence to answer our research question. Using the specific search strategy, we achieved a reduction of citations by 25%, concurrently identifying 88% of relevant references. Conclusions: Evidence mapping with the intention of gaining an overview of a research field does not require high level accuracy in contrary to systematic reviews. Keeping this distinction in mind, a mass of extraneous information will be avoided by using specific instead of highly sensitive search strategies.