A code of practice for the conduct of systematic reviews in toxicology and environmental health research (COSTER)
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Background: There are several standards that offer explicit guidance on good practice in systematic reviews (SRs) for the medical sciences; however, no similarly comprehensive set of recommendations has been published for SRs that focus on human health risks posed by exposure to environmental challenges, chemical or otherwise. Objectives: To develop an expert, cross-sector consensus view on a key set of recommended practices for the planning and conduct of SRs in the environmental health sciences. Methods: A draft set of recommendations was derived from two existing standards for SRs in biomedicine and developed in a consensus process, which engaged international participation from government, industry, non-government organisations, and academia. The consensus process consisted of a workshop, follow-up webinars, email discussion and bilateral phone calls. Results: The Conduct of Systematic Reviews in Toxicology and Environmental Health Research (COSTER) recommendations cover 70 SR practices across eight performance domains. Detailed explanations for specific recommendations are made for those identified by the authors as either being novel to SR in general, specific to the environmental health SR context, or potentially controversial to environmental health SR stakeholders. Discussion: COSTER provides a set of recommendations that should facilitate the production of credible, high-value SRs of environmental health evidence, and advance discussion of a number of controversial aspects of conduct of EH SRs. Key recommendations include the management of conflicts of interest, handling of grey literature, and protocol registration and publication. A process for advancing from COSTER’s recommendations to developing a formal standard for EH SRs is also indicated.
Authors: Whaley, Paul, Aiassa, Elisa, Beausoleil, Claire, Beronius, Anna, Bilotta, Gary, Boobis, Alan, de Vries, Rob, Hanberg, Annika, Hoffmann, Sebastian, Hunt, Neil, Kwiatkowski, Carol, Lam, Juleen, Lipworth, Steven, Martin, Olwenn, Randall, Nicola, Rhomberg, Lorenz, Rooney, Andrew A., Schünemann, Holger J., Wikoff, Daniele, Wolffe, Taylor, Halsall, Crispin
Institutions: Lancaster University, European Food Safety Authority, Agence Nationale de Sécurité Sanitaire de l’Alimentation, de l’Environnement et du Travail, Karolinska Institutet, University of Brighton, Imperial College London, Radboud University Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco State University, Royal Society of Chemistry, Brunel University of London, Harper Adams University, Centro Tecnolóxico de Telecomunicacións de Galicia, Gradient (United States), National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Michael G. DeGroote Cochrane Canada Centre, McMaster University, ToxStrategies LLC (United States)
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Award: G5744826985
OpenAlex ID: W6950052751