Becoming a handsearcher

Handsearchers are any interested person who volunteers their time to search for journal articles. Hand searching (or full text searching) is an activity undertaken by all Collaborative Review Groups (CRGs) within The Cochrane Collaboration in an effort to identify literature that has not been indexed to the major biomedical databases. The objective of handsearching is to search selected journals for all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) covering a range of health areas.

Those articles identified as relevant to breast cancer will then be included on the Specialised Register of breast cancer trials. Those relating to other areas are forwarded to the relevant review group.

Handsearching can be done at a time suitable to the individual. A short training session and handbook is available to assist new hand searchers with this task. For further details on handsearching consult the Cochrane Handsearcher Training Manual. To volunteer as a handsearcher contact Cochrane@ctc.usyd.edu.au

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