About DARE
Systematic reviews can provide reliable information about what is known and not known about the effects of interventions. But just as with individual studies, systematic reviews can be hard to find, can have methodological flaws and can be difficult to interpret. DARE provides the solution by systematically identifying and quality assessing reviews from around the world.
The database is focused on systematic reviews of the effects of health interventions and includes reviews of: interventions that are clearly health related; interventions that have the potential to affect health; adverse effects; diagnostic and prognostic studies; individual patient data (IPD).
Each month thousands of citations are screened to identify potential systematic reviews. These are independently assessed by two researchers for inclusion on DARE using the following criteria:
1. Were inclusion/exclusion criteria reported?
2. Was the search adequate?
3. Were the included studies synthesised?
4. Was the validity of the included studies assessed?
5. Are sufficient details about the individual included studies presented?
For a review to be included on DARE it must meet at least four criteria (criteria 1-3 are mandatory).
Each abstract describes the review methods, results and conclusions and, uniquely, provides a critical assessment of the systematic review. Just because a review is included on DARE does not mean that it is of high quality so the purpose of the critical assessment is to help users of the database to judge the overall validity and reliability of the review.
To ensure quality, abstracts are written and independently checked by health service researchers with in-depth knowledge and experience of systematic review methods. They are then proof read by a technical editor to ensure consistency and readability.
On final completion of an abstract, a copy is sent to the original authors for information. Authors are invited to reply with corrections to factual errors, further information and other relevant research. Where applicable, this information is added to the records.
How systematic reviews are identified for inclusion on DARE
How to cite or reference a DARE abstract
