As the evidence based information landscape continues to expand at an unprecedented rate, it is not surprising that there is now even a place for systematic reviews of systematic reviews in the literature to support more streamlined clinical decision-making. To better navigate this expanding landscape, some new “meta” search tools have been developed, including one called Epistemonikos.
Epistemonikos offers a Google-like search box, as well as an advanced search option, and can be search using terms from multiple languages. Epistemonikos is an openly-available database that “gathers information from multiple sources of systematic reviews, broad syntheses of reviews and structured summaries”. Included among its sources are: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Pubmed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, LILACS, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment Database, Campbell Library, JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, EPPI-Centre Evidence Library, and SUPPORT Summaries.
A quick PubMed search of the term “epistemonikos” returns citations such as this recent one that indicates that Epistemonikos is already being used in research studies:
Gartlehner G, Wagner G, Matyas N, Titscher V, Greimel J, Lux L, Gaynes BN, Viswanathan M, Patel S, Lohr KN. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for major depressive disorder: review of systematic reviews. BMJ Open. 2017 Jun 14;7(6):e014912. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014912. PubMed PMID: 28615268.
From its abstract: “This study used MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO and Epistemonikos from 2011 up to February 2017 for systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials in adult patients with acute-phase MDD.”
The Epistemonikos Foundation, a not for profit organization based in Santiago, Chile, is responsible for this free, multilingual tool that has been developed with the collaboration of others around the World. Epistemonikos was recently added to the MSK Library’s A-Z Databases List. Try it out and let us know what you think!