Including economic perspectives and evidence in Campbell reviews to inform policy and practice: a critical review of current approaches

This paper evaluates current approaches to incorporating economic perspectives and evidence into systematic reviews, using 31 of the 33 reviews completed under the editorial control of The Campbell Collaboration. Of these, 74% incorporated economic perspectives, and 26% attempted to incorporate economic evidence by collecting and summarising data on resource use, costs and/or cost-effectiveness from primary studies. We conclude that while most Campbell reviews incorporate an economic dimension that is of potential utility to end users, the scope and quality of current approaches is limited.