{"doi":"10.1093/jamia/ocaf111","title":"Incorporating preprints in systematic reviews: a preliminary study of a novel method for rapid evidence synthesis","abstract":"OBJECTIVES: By October 1, 2024, over 450,000 COVID-19 manuscripts were published, with 10% posted as unreviewed preprints. While they accelerate knowledge sharing, their inconsistent quality complicates systematic studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We propose a 2-stage method to include preprints in meta-analyses. In Stage A, preprints are integrated through restriction or imputation and weighted by a confidence score reflecting their publication likelihood. In Stage B, we assess and adjust for potential publication or reporting biases. RESULTS: This preliminary study employed a 2-stage procedure validated with 2 COVID-19 treatment case studies. For hydroxychloroquine, the relative risk (RR) was 1.06 [95% CI: 0.62, 1.80], suggesting no mortality benefit over placebo. For corticosteroids, the RR was 0.88 [95% CI: 0.62, 1.27], which, while not statistically significant, aligns with evidence supporting a mortality benefit. DISCUSSION: Our research aims to bridge a significant methodological gap by providing a solution for timely evidence synthesis, particularly in the face of the overwhelming number of publications surrounding COVID-19. CONCLUSION: This preliminary study presents a method to efficiently synthesize COVID-19 research, including non-peer-reviewed preprints, to support clinical and policy decisions amidst the information surge.","journal":"Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association","year":2025,"id":534645,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9626,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":105373,"name":"Yifei Sun","orcid":"0000-0002-6961-5500","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":15857,"name":"Rebecca A. Hubbard","orcid":"0000-0003-0879-0994","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":822483,"name":"M. Elle Saine","orcid":"0000-0002-1037-5610","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":12534,"name":"Hua Xu","orcid":"0000-0002-5274-4672","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":822484,"name":"Xu Zuo","orcid":"0009-0008-8571-5529","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":231965,"name":"Lifeng Lin","orcid":"0000-0002-3562-9816","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":2012,"name":"Chunhua Weng","orcid":"0000-0002-9624-0214","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":2311,"name":"Christopher H. Schmid","orcid":"0000-0002-0855-5313","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":373031,"name":"Stephen E. Kimmel","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":816293,"name":"Craig A. Umscheid","orcid":"0000-0003-1853-1013","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":238004,"name":"Adam Cuker","orcid":"0000-0002-3595-5697","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":14813,"name":"Yong Chen","orcid":"0000-0003-0835-0788","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":300699,"name":"Jiayi Tong","orcid":"0000-0002-1213-6699","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":36,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:51:47.434742Z","pmid":"40901701","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}