ELS (Extensive literature search)

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Why?

An extensive literature search (ELS) provides information on the safety of a microorganism or product under authorised conditions of use. EFSA Guidance on the renewal of the authorisation of feed additives (2021) states that applicants must provide evidence of the safety of the additive in the application. To this end, an ELS must be done in a systematic and documented way. An ELS is also done for microorganisms considered for QPS, and is a useful tool for other purposes, too.

Biosafe

ELS is a blend between a conventional literature search and a systematic review approach.

Compared to conventional literature searches, one should be able to reproduce an extensive literature search and get the same results.

An ELS should be transparent
The review questions should be clearly stated
The key elements should be defined
The process should be properly documented and reported

How?

The steps that we take in an
extensive literature search

Formulating questions
Goals and requirements of the ELS.
Defining key elements
Parameters of the search, what is the search about?
Scoping the literature
How broad and how strict is the search?
Choosing search strategy
Designing the search terms and search strings
Selecting relevant information sources
Bibliographic databases, reference lists of journal articles and scientific community websites.
The search
The search methodology is documented in detail.
Assessing retrieved publications
The relevance is assessed by at least two scientific reviewers in parallel
Summarising the results
A Summary Table of the outcome of the selection process, where the relevant studies are described.
Critical assessment
A summary of the evidence collected, which explains how they support the conclusions reached.