Current status of methodological and reporting quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in medicine and health science fields in Ethiopia: Leveraging quantity to improve quality

Abstract

IntroductionWith a rising publication rate of medicine and health sciences systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) in Ethiopia, there is a growing concern over their methodological and reporting quality. The aim of this study was to characterize epidemiological trends and evaluate the methodological and reporting quality of SR and MA Ethiopia.MethodsA retrospective observational overview study was conducted on medicine and health sciences SR and MA in Ethiopia that accessed through PubMed, PsycInfo, EMBASE databases and additional manual searching. SR and MA based on primary human studies associated with the Ethiopian population irrespective of the place of publication and authors’ affiliation and published until March 16, 2021 were included. Title/abstract and full-text screening were conducted in duplicate using EndNote and Covidence semiautometed reference management tools. Data extraction tool was developed by the author using PRISMA and AMSTAR-2 as a guide. We summarized background characteristics, and methodological and reporting qualities using frequencies with percentages and median with range. Two-tailed Chi-Square and Fisher’s Exact tests used for catergorical variables and Kruskal-Walis test for quantitative variables at alpha level 0.05 were used to compare the difference in background characterstics between SR and MA as well as across the publication years over time. All the analysis was done using R version 4.0.2 for macOS.ResultsOf the 3,125 total records initially identified, 349 articles (48 (13.75%) SR, and 301 (86.25%) MA) were included in our analyses. We observed a dramatic increase in publications with nearly three-quarters of SR and MA (73.9%) published after 2018. More than nine out of ten (92.8%) SR and MA included only observational studies and infectious disease, was the most researched (20.9%) subject area. Number of authors, number of affiliations, publication year, protocol registration, number of primary studies, number of references, citation counts and journal quality were significantly different between SR and MA. Both SR and MA had a low methodological and reporting quality Even though there was improvement in registering protocols, searching databases, and transparently reporting search strategy.ConclusionsThe production of SR and MA in Ethiopia has been increased over time, especially during the last three years. There is a promising trend of improvement in methodological and reporting quality even though there is much more to do. This study provide an up-to-date overview of the landscape of SR and MA publication rate and quality leverage in Ethiopia. Authors should prioritize quality over fast track publication.