Protocol: A Search Strategy for Finding Validated Search Filters in Management Studies
Submitted: 2026-03-07
|Accepted: 2026-04-08
|Published: 2026-04-23
Copyright (c) 2026 Juan Martinez-Tomas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Keywords:
protocol paper, search filter, search strategy, systematic review, management research, evidence-based management, bibliographic databases, validation
Supporting agencies:
Abstract:
This protocol paper addresses the need for a systematic infrastructure to support evidence-based management by mapping the existence and validation of search filters in management and organisational research. Search filters—validated Boolean search strings designed to identify specific types of studies—are well established in medicine and clinical research; however, their development and validation within the management field have not been systematically assessed. To address this gap, we developed Boolean search strings for use in Web of Science and Scopus, combining terms identifying search filters and search strategies with terms indicating validation methodology. Inclusion criteria comprised peer-reviewed articles in English or Spanish indexed in either database, within the subject categories of management and social sciences, with the explicit aim of developing or validating a search filter in any management-related domain.
The protocol defines the search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and data extraction framework to be applied to identify, characterise, and map existing validated search filters in management research. To our knowledge, this is the first protocol specifically designed for this purpose. By establishing a rigorous methodological foundation, this work aims to inform future systematic review practice and to contribute to the consolidation of evidence-based management as a discipline with a robust, replicable literature infrastructure.
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