Creating and curating a community of practice: introducing the evidence synthesis Hackathon and a special series in evidence synthesis technology

Evidence synthesis is a vital part of evidence-informed decision-making, but high growth in the volume of research evidence over recent decades has made efficient evidence synthesis increasingly challenging. As the appreciation and need for timely and rigorous evidence synthesis continue to grow, so...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental evidence Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 28
Main Authors: Haddaway, Neal R., Westgate, Martin J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London BioMed Central 19.11.2020
BioMed Central Ltd
Springer Nature B.V
BMC
Subjects:
Algorithms
Automation
avalanches
Bias
buildings
Collaboration
Commentary
Communities of practice
Computer programs
computer software
COVID-19
Decision making
Digitisation
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecosystems
Efficiency
Environment
Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice
Environmental Management
Environmental Policy
Evidence Synthesis Technology
Forestry Management
Freeware
Machine learning
Management
Open access
Open source software
production technology
Redundancy
Review technology
Software
Synthesis
Systematic review
Systematic review tools
wills
Sweden
Systematic review tools
Digitisation
Efficiency
Machine learning
Review technology
ISSN:2047-2382, 2047-2382
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Evidence synthesis is a vital part of evidence-informed decision-making, but high growth in the volume of research evidence over recent decades has made efficient evidence synthesis increasingly challenging. As the appreciation and need for timely and rigorous evidence synthesis continue to grow, so too will the need for tools and frameworks to conduct reviews of expanding evidence bases in an efficient and time-sensitive manner. Efforts to future-proof evidence synthesis through the development of new evidence synthesis technology (ESTech) have so far been isolated across interested individuals or groups, with no concerted effort to collaborate or build communities of practice in technology production. We established the evidence synthesis Hackathon to stimulate collaboration and the production of Free and Open Source Software and frameworks to support evidence synthesis. Here, we introduce a special series of papers on ESTech, and invite the readers of environmental evidence to submit manuscripts introducing and validating novel tools and frameworks. We hope this collection will help to consolidate ESTech development efforts and we encourage readers to join the ESTech revolution. In order to future-proof evidence synthesis against the evidence avalanche, we must support community enthusiasm for ESTech, reduce redundancy in tool design, collaborate and share capacity in tool production, and reduce inequalities in software accessibility.
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ISSN:2047-2382
2047-2382
DOI:10.1186/s13750-020-00212-w