Description:

This Master Prompt would focus on developing a transparent evidence-identification and selection process for reconstructing the development of a research area. It would guide researchers through keyword development, recognition of earlier and contemporary terminology, database selection, identification of relevant historical sources, screening, and documentation of inclusion and exclusion decisions.

The prompt would accommodate different source types according to the review question, including research articles, previous reviews, technical publications, policy documents, government reports, and archival records. Particular attention would be given to determining whether a source contributes evidence about historical development rather than merely containing words such as “chronological,” “evolution,” or “development.”

Researchers would prepare a search record, an eligibility table, and a source-coverage matrix showing which periods and aspects of the topic are represented. Missing abstracts or unavailable full texts would be recorded rather than treated as evidence that a study is irrelevant.

This theme is supported by the leech-extract review’s explicit database-and-keyword search and the pharmacy-policy review’s use of public health-department archives to identify documents within a defined period.