In this section we provide some references for each aspect of the systematic review process created by our group. We also include videos for how to conduct meta-analysis using REVMAN.

Summaries of the systematic review process.

An introduction to systematic reviews in animal health, animal welfare, and food safety. O’Connor AM, Sargeant JM. Anim Health Res Rev. 2014 Jun;15(1):3-13. doi: 10.1017/S146625231400005X. PMID: 25605276

Introduction to systematic reviews in animal agriculture and veterinary medicine. Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Jun;61 Suppl 1:3-9. doi: 10.1111/zph.12128. PMID: 24905991

Application of systematic review methodology to food and feed safety assessments to support decision making. EFSA Journal 2010; 8(6):1637. [90 pp.]. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1637.

Finally, the opportunity to publish systematic review protocols, systemic reviews and guidelines in animal health, animal welfare, and food safety.O’Connor AM, Sargeant JM. Anim Health Res Rev. 2014 Jun;15(1):1-2. doi: 10.1017/S1466252314000097. PMID: 25605275

Applicability and feasibility of systematic review for performing evidence-based risk assessment in food and feed safety. Aiassa E, Higgins JP, Frampton GK, Greiner M, Afonso A, Amzal B, Deeks J, Dorne JL, Glanville J, Lövei GL, Nienstedt K, O’connor AM, Pullin AS, Rajić A, Verloo D. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2015 Jun 7;55(7):1026-34. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2013.769933. PMID: 25191830

Sargeant JM, Rajic A, Read S, Ohlsson A. The process of systematic review and its application in agri-food public health. Prev. Vet. Med. 2006; 75: 141-151. PMID: 16725217

Step 1: Developing a protocol

Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions I: Writing the review protocol, formulating the question and searching the literature. O’Connor AM, Anderson KM, Goodell CK, Sargeant JM. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Jun;61 Suppl 1:28-38. doi: 10.1111/zph.12125. PMID: 24905994

Step 2: Conducting a search

Technical Manual for Performing Electronic Literature Searches in Food and Feed Safety.

EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), Devos Y, Guajardo IM, Glanville J and Waigmann E, 2017. Explanatory note on literature searching conducted in the context of GMO applications for (renewed) market authorisation and annual post-market environmental monitoring reports on GMOs authorised in the EU market. EFSA supporting publications 2017:14(4):EN-1207. 48 pp. doi: 10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.EN-1207

Step 3: Identifying eligible papers

Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions II: Relevance screening, data extraction, assessing risk of bias, presenting the results and interpreting the findings. Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Jun;61 Suppl 1:39-51. doi: 10.1111/zph.12124. PMID: 24905995

Step 4: Data extraction

Study designs and systematic reviews of interventions: building evidence across study designs. Sargeant JM, Kelton DF, O’Connor AM. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Jun;61 Suppl 1:10-7. doi: 10.1111/zph.12127. PMID: 24905992

Randomized controlled trials and challenge trials: Design and criterion for validity. Sargeant JM, Kelton DF, O’Connor AM,Zoon. Public Health. 2014. 61 (S1); 18 – 27. PMID: 24905993

Step 5: Data Synthesis

Conducting systematic reviews of intervention questions III: Synthesizing data from intervention studies using meta-analysis. O’Connor AM, Sargeant JM, Wang C. Zoonoses Public Health. 2014 Jun;61 Suppl 1:52-63. doi: 10.1111/zph.12123. PMID: 24905996

Video for using R for Meta package

Meta-analyses including data from observational studies. O’Connor AM, Sargeant JM. Prev Vet Med. 2014 Feb 15;113(3):313-22. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2013.10.017. Epub 2013 Oct 31. PMID: 24268538

You tube videos of using REVMAN for meta-analysis. This is a series of videos made for a project in Sri Lanka.

Step 6: Presenting the results

Step 7: Reaching a conclusion

Knowledge synthesis in animal and veterinary research blogs

Blog #1. Definitions and some resources for knowledge synthesis in animal and veterinary research. By Lee Wisener, University of Guelph

Blog #2. Evidence-based decision making and why it matters. By Lee Wisener, University of Guelph

Blog #3. Evidence hierarchy and the research continuum adapted for animal research and veterinary medicine. By Lee Wisener, University of Guelph

Other research synthesis methods.

Pham M, Rajic A, Greig J, Sargeant J, Papadopoulos A, McEwen SA. 2014. A scoping review of scoping reviews: Advancing the approach and enhancing the consistency. Research Synthesis Methods, 5: 371 – 385. PMID: 26052958

The REFLECT statement

O’Connor AM, Sargeant JM, Gardner IA, Dickson JS, Torrence ME, Consensus Meeting P, Dewey CE, Dohoo IR, Evans RB, Gray JT, Greiner M, Keefe G, Lefebvre SL, Morley PS, Ramirez A, Sischo W, Smith DR, Snedeker K, Sofos J, Ward MP, Wills R. The REFLECT statement: methods and processes of creating reporting guidelines for randomized controlled trials for livestock and food safety by modifying the CONSORT statement. Zoonoses Public Health. 2010;57(2):95-104. Epub 2010/01/15. doi: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2009.01311.x. PubMed PMID: 20070653.

Sargeant JM, O’Connor A M, Gardner IA, Dickson JS, Torrence ME, Dohoo IR, Lefebvre SL, Morley PS, Ramirez A, Snedeker K. The REFLECT Statement: Reporting Guidelines for Randomized Controlled Trials in Livestock and Food Safety: Explanation and Elaboration. Zoonoses Public Health. 2010;57(2):105-36. Epub 2010/01/15. doi: JVB1312 [pii] 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2009.01312.x. PubMed PMID: 20070652.

Other papers by our group that relate to quality of reporting and critical appraisal

Statistics and evidence-based veterinary medicine: answers to 21 common statistical questions that arise from reading scientific manuscripts. Evans RB, O’Connor A. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 2007 May;37(3):477-86. Review. PMID: 17466751

Critically appraising studies reporting assessing diagnostic tests. O’Connor. A, Evans RB. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. 2007 May;37(3):487-97. Review. PMID: 17466752

O’Connor AM. Interpretation of odds and risk ratios. J Vet Intern Med. 2013;27(3):600-3. doi: 10.1111/jvim.12057. PubMed PMID: 23517403.

O’Connor A. Reporting guidelines for primary research: Saying what you did. Prev Vet Med. 2010;97(3-4):144-9. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2010.09.010. PubMed PMID: 20951448.

Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM., 2014. Issues of reporting in observational studies in veterinary medicine. Prev Vet Med. 113: 323-330. PMID: 24139690

Wisener LV, Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM, Faires MC, Glass-Kaastra SK, 2014. The evidentiary value of challenge trials for three pre-harvest food safety topics: A systematic assessment. Zoonoses and Public Health. 61: 449-476. PMID: 24219101

Snedeker KG, Totton S, Sargeant JM. 2012, Completeness of reporting in abstracts from clinical trials of pre-harvest interventions against foodborne pathogens. Prev. Vet. Med. 104: 15 – 22. PMID: 22153033

Snedeker KG, Campbell M, Totton SC, Guthrie A, Sargeant JM. 2010. Comparison of outcomes and other variables between conference abstracts and subsequent peer-reviewed papers involving pre-harvest or abattoir-level interventions against foodborne pathogens. Prev Vet Med. 97: 67 – 76. PMID: 20739075

Snedeker KG, Totton SC, Sargeant, JM. 2010. Analysis of trends in the full publication of papers from conference abstracts involving pre-harvest or abattoir-level interventions against foodborne pathogens. Prev Vet Med 95: 1- 9. PMID: 20338648

Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM, Renter DG, Kelton DF, Snedeker K, Wisener LV, Leonard EK, Guthrie AD, Faires M. 2011. Reporting of methodological features in observational studies of pre-harvest food safety. Prev Vet Med. 98: 88 – 98. PMID: 21095033

Sargeant, J.M., Thompson, A., Valcour, J., Elgie, R., Saint‐Onge, J., Marcynuk, P. and Snedeker, K., 2010. Quality of reporting of clinical trials of dogs and cats and associations with treatment effects. Journal of veterinary internal medicine, 24(1), pp.44-50. PMID: 19807866

Sargeant JM, Elgie R, Valcour J, Saint-Onge J, Thompson A, Marcynuk P, Snedeker K. 2009. Methodological quality and completeness of reporting in clinical trials conducted in livestock species. Prev Vet Med. 91: 107-115. PMID: 19573943

Sargeant JM, Saint-Onge J, Valcour J, Thompson A, Elgie R, Snedeker K, Marcynuk P. 2009. Quality of reporting in clinical trials of pre-harvest food safety interventions and associations with treatment effect. Foodborne Path Dis. 6: 989-999. PMID: 19630508

Waddell L, Rajic A, Sargeant J, Parker S, Deckert A, McEwen S. 2009. The methodological soundness of literature reviews addressing three potential zoonotic public health issues. Zoonoses and Public Health. 56:477-489. PMID: 19175572

Sargeant JM, O’Connor AM, Renter DG, Kelton DF, Snedeker K, Wisener LV, Leonard EK, Guthrie AD, Faires M. Reporting of methodological features in observational studies of pre-harvest food safety. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2011;98(2-3):88-98. Epub 2010/11/26. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2010.10.009. PubMed PMID: 21095033.

Sargeant JM, Torrence ME, Rajic A, O’Connor AM, Williams J. Methodological quality assessment of review articles evaluating interventions to improve microbial food safety. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. 2006; 3: 447-456. PMID: 17199527

Published trials

Gould S, Dewell R, Tofflemire K, Whitley RD, Millman ST, Opriessnig T, Rosenbusch R, Trujillo J, O’Connor AM. Randomized blinded challenge study to assess association between Moraxella bovoculi and Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis in dairy calves. Vet Microbiol. 2013;164(1-2):108-15. Epub 2013/03/05. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2013.01.038. PubMed PMID: 23452750.

Gould S, Cooper VL, Reichardt N, O’Connor AM. An evaluation of the prevalence of Bovine herpesvirus 1 abortions based on diagnostic submissions to five U.S.-based veterinary diagnostic laboratories. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2013;25(2):243-7. Epub 2013/03/21. doi: 10.1177/1040638713478607. PubMed PMID: 23512920.

Coetzee JF, Edwards LN, Mosher RA, Bello NM, O’Connor AM, Wang B, Kukanich B, Blasi DA. Effect of oral meloxicam on health and performance of beef steers relative to bulls castrated on arrival at the feedlot. Journal of Animal Science. 2012;90(3):1026-39. Epub 2011/10/04. doi: 10.2527/jas.2011-4068. PubMed PMID: 21965454.

O’Connor AM, Brace S, Gould S, Dewell R, Engelken T. A randomized clinical trial evaluating a farm-of-origin autogenous Moraxella bovis vaccine to control infectious bovine keratoconjunctivis (pinkeye) in beef cattle. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 2011;25(6):1447-53. Epub 2011/11/19. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2011.00803.x. PubMed PMID: 22092641.

Critical reviews

Baltzell P, Newton H, O’Connor AM. A Critical Review and Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Whole-Cell Killed Tritrichomonas foetus Vaccines in Beef Cattle. J Vet Intern Med. 2013. doi: 10.1111/jvim.12112. PubMed PMID: 23701212.

O’Connor AM, Wang B, Denagamage T, McKean J. Process Mapping the Prevalence of Salmonella Contamination on Pork Carcass from Slaughter to Chilling: A Systematic Review Approach. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. 2012;9(5):386-95. doi: Doi 10.1089/Fpd.2011.1040. PubMed PMID: 22551098 ISI:000303595800002.

Holtkamp DJ, Lin H, Wang C, O’Connor AM. Identifying questions in the American Association of Swine Veterinarian’s PRRS risk assessment survey that are important for retrospectively classifying swine herds according to whether they reported clinical PRRS outbreaks in the previous 3 years. Prev Vet Med. 2012;106(1):42-52. Epub 2012/04/06. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2012.03.003. PubMed PMID: 22475927.

Esch KJ, Pontes NN, Arruda P, O’Connor A, Morais L, Jeronimo SMB, Petersen CA. Preventing zoonotic canine leishmaniasis in northeastern Brazil: pet attachment and adoption of community Leishmania prevention. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2012;87(5):822-31. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2012.12-0251. PubMed PMID: 22987654 CABI:20123413564.

Irwin CK, Yoon KJ, Wang C, Hoff SJ, Zimmerman JJ, Denagamage T, O’Connor AM. Using the systematic review methodology to evaluate factors that influence the persistence of influenza virus in environmental matrices. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011;77(3):1049-60. Epub 2010/12/15. doi: AEM.02733-09 [pii] 10.1128/AEM.02733-09. PubMed PMID: 21148699.