Table 3

The type and number of guidelines accompanying critical appraisal tools per study design

Type of critical appraisal tool

Type of guideline

Total number of critical appraisal tools

Handbook/published paper

Accompanying explanation

Total

Number of tools

References

Number of tools

References

Systematic reviews

9

[2,4,15,20,25,28,29,331,36,116]

3

[16,26,27]

12

26

Experimental studies

10

[2,4,25,37,41,50,64-66,69]

6

[26,40,49,51,57,59]

16

45

Diagnostic studies

3

[74,75,76]

1

[79]

4

7

Observational studies

9

[2,25,66,80,84-87]

1

[83]

10

19

Qualitative studies

4

[9,87,89,90]

1

[26]

5

7

Experimental & Observational studies

2

[9,95]

1

[91]

3

6

All study designs

1

[100]

1

[102]

2

10

Total

38

14

52

120

Katrak et al. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2004 4:22   doi:10.1186/1471-2288-4-22