Evaluation of the replicability of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the effects of health interventions

DG Hamilton; JE Mckenzie; PY Nguyen; ML Rethlefsen; S Mcdonald; SE Brennan; FM Fidler; JPT Higgins; R Kanukula; S Karunananthan; LJ Maxwell; D Moher; S Nakagawa; D Nunan; P Tugwell; VA Welch; MJ Page

Journal article

Evaluation of the replicability of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of the effects of health interventions

DG Hamilton, JE Mckenzie, PY Nguyen, ML Rethlefsen, S Mcdonald, SE Brennan, FM Fidler, JPT Higgins, R Kanukula, S Karunananthan, LJ Maxwell, D Moher, S Nakagawa, D Nunan, P Tugwell, VA Welch, MJ Page

Research Synthesis Methods | Cambridge University Press (CUP) | Published : 2026

DOI: 10.1017/rsm.2025.10064

Open access

Abstract

Systematic reviews are often characterized as being inherently replicable, but several studies have challenged this claim. The objective of the study was to investigate the variation in results following independent replication of literature searches and meta-analyses of systematic reviews. We included 10 systematic reviews of the effects of health interventions published in November 2020. Two information specialists repeated the original database search strategies. Two experienced review authors screened full-text articles, extracted data, and calculated the results for the first reported meta-analysis. All replicators were initially blinded to the results of the original review. A meta-ana..

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