Introduction. Systematic reviews are fundamental sources of knowledge on the state-ofthe-art interventions for various clinical problems. One of the essential components incarrying out a systematic review is that of developing a comprehensive literature search.Materials and methods. Three Cochrane systematic reviews published in 2012 wereretrieved using the MeSH descriptor breast neoplasms/surgery, and analyzed with respectto the information sources used and the search strategies adopted. In March 2014, anupdate of one of the reviews retrieved was also considered in the study.Results. The number of databases queried for each review ranged between three andseven. All the reviews reported the search strategies adopted, however some only partially.All the reviews explicitly claimed that the searches applied no language restrictionalthough sources such as the free database Lilacs (in Spanish and Portuguese) wasnot consulted.Conclusion. To improve the quality it is necessary to apply standards in carrying outsystematic reviews (as laid down in the MECIR project). To meet these standards concerningliterature searching, professional information retrieval specialist staff should beinvolved. The peer review committee in charge of evaluating the publication of a systematicreview should also include specialists in information retrieval for assessing the qualityof the literature search
