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BackgroundSearch filters or hedges play an important role in evidence-based medicine but their development depends on the availability of a "gold standard" – a reference standard against which to establish the performance of the filter. We demonstrate the feasibility of using relative recall of included studies from multiple systematic reviews to validate methodological search filters as an alternative to validation against a gold standard formed through hand searching.MethodsWe identified 105 Cochrane reviews that used the Highly Sensitive Search Strategy (HSSS), included randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials, and reported their included studies. We measured the ability of two published and one novel variant of the HSSS to retrieve the MEDLINE-index studies included in these reviews.ResultsThe systematic reviews were comprehensive in their searches. 72% of included primary studies were indexed in MEDLINE. Relative recall of the three strategies ranged from .98 to .91 across all reviews and more comprehensive strategies showed higher recall.ConclusionAn approach using relative recall instead of a hand searching gold standard proved feasible and produced recall figures that were congruent with previously published figures for the HSSS. This technique would permit validation of a methodological filter using a collection of approximately 100 studies of the chosen design drawn from the included studies of multiple systematic reviews that used comprehensive search strategies.

Fertility of SCI males is extensively studied. Semen for fertility purposes can generally be obtained using vibration and electroejaculation. AF techniques are increasing pregnancy rates. Research is needed to improve sperm quality. Freezing of sperm is unlikely to significantly improve fertility rates. Fertility of SCI females is addressed only in case reports and opinion articles. The opinion that female fertility is unaffected by SCI should be further investigated using appropriate research methodology.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2101 East Jefferson Street, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.

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Using data from Web of Science, this research investigates how physical science researchers funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research complied with its open access policy, and compares the citation counts of articles published through gold and green models. It was found that, for articles published between 2008 and 2015, 9% were available through gold open access routes and 13% were available through green routes; most were not openly accessible. Citation rates were comparable for green open access and non-open access articles, but citation rates for gold open access articles were lower. After controlling for publication year, citation rates of gold, green, and non-open access articles were comparable. Among gold open access articles, citation rates were highest for open access journals with article processing charges, but after controlling for publication year, articles published in hybrid journals, followed by those in open access journals with article processing charges, achieved the highest citation rates. Articles published in free open access journals had the lowest citation rates. The results suggest that green open access is the most economical approach to comply with open access policies, and that it provides researchers with at least as much research impact as gold open access