Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why should I create an account with Health Evidence™?
   Registered Health Evidence™ users can subscribe to our monthly Evidence Service and receive email updates on topics relevant to their work. Additionally, becoming a registered user of Health Evidence™ provides access to user functions including the ability to save articles, post comments and save searches.
2. Is there a charge for the services provided by Health Evidence™?
   Health Evidence™ is free to use and provides access to peer reviewed, published evidence syntheses, however, not all published articles linked on the website are open access and available for free. Some articles may exist behind a paywall.
3. Can I access the full-text articles?
   Many full-text articles included on Health Evidence™ are open access and available for free. To access the full-text, click “Article full-text (free)” under Related Material on the article record page. Some articles may exist behind a paywall. Contact your organization to inquire about access to these articles.
   
   Using search filters, you can limit your search to only display results with links to free full-text articles. Access this filter on the Advanced Search page under “Text Options”.
4. What process does a review go through to be added to Health Evidence™?
   Please visit the Updating Health Evidence™ page to learn more about how reviews are added to Health Evidence™.
5. How do I export my search results?
   You can export records from the search results page. Select the results you want to export, then click on 'Export references' (located on the right under 'Results Options'). The export will be in RIS file format, which is a .txt file. Save the file, then import it to your preferred reference management software (e.g., Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero, RefWorks).
6. Why does Health Evidence™ only include and appraise reviews that synthesize quantitative studies?
   Health Evidence™ appraises reviews that include quantitative studies or a mix of both quantitative and qualitative studies. We do not appraise reviews that include only qualitative studies. Qualitative reviews synthesize qualitative evidence to address questions on aspects other than effectiveness. While we acknowledge the usefulness of qualitative reviews in providing information on the feasibility and acceptability of interventions and barriers and facilitators to implementing an intervention, reviews that do not evaluate effectiveness of an intervention/program/service/policy do not currently meet our relevance criteria. To learn more about our relevance criteria, visit the Updating Health Evidence™ page.
7. What about privacy?
   Health Evidence™ does not collect information that personally identifies individuals except when individuals provide such specific information on a voluntary basis. Individual information provided to Health Evidence™ will not be sold or made available to a third party. By using this website, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by our Terms of Use Agreement. Please review these terms carefully.
8. Why use the Health Evidence™ Quality Assessment Tool?
   Certain quality assessment tools, such as AMSTAR2 and ROBIS, were created to assess the methodology of systematic reviews focused on healthcare-related topics. Unlike these tools, the Health Evidence™ Quality Assessment Tool was created by public health professionals for use with systematic reviews focused on public health topics. The tool is used to assess whether a systematic review’s methodology is transparent and replicable by others and can help you decide the extent to which authors have followed rigorous methods to generate trustworthy findings. The tool poses 10 questions surrounding the review’s research question, search strategy, methods of quality appraisal for included studies, data synthesis and interpretation. Access the Quality Assessment Tool Guidance Document to learn more about our easy-to-use appraisal tool.
9. How do you cite an evidence summary written by Health Evidence™?
   The citation should follow APA, 7th edition:
   Author(s) of evidence summary. (Year). Evidence summary (title as appears on Health Evidence™). Retrieved from (URL).
   
   For example:
   Baker, P, Do, H & Dunne, M. (2019). eHealth interventions for smoking cessation: Evidence and implications for public health. Retrieved from http://www.healthevidence.org/documents/byid/34078/Do2018_EvidenceSummary_EN.pdf