Charles B. Wessel

Evaluation of a Self-Paced Learning Module to Teach Responsible Literature Searching for Research**

The unanticipated death of a healthy research study volunteer at a major university highlighted the importance of a comprehensive and exhaustive literature review in conducting responsible research [1]. When this unfortunate event was investigated, it became evident that many researchers who perform literature searches have little guidance about what constitutes an appropriate or sufficient search to support human subject research. The researcher in that study had completed a basic search of MEDLINE and recent texts but had not conducted an extensive search, thereby missing relevant published research [2, 3]. After many of its members conducted literature searches themselves, the committee assigned to investigate this event found it was divided on what constitutes a sufficient literature search to support human subject research [4]. The Medical Library Association (MLA) recommended development of standards for literature searching to help institutional review boards assess the quality and comprehensiveness of literature searches in studies under review, and the association developed a policy statement on the role of expert searching in the health sciences [5–7]. In an article published long before this unfortunate event, Cullen and Mason decried the lack of standards for health sciences literature searching: