Jun 04, 2026

Complete Search String

DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl83ry7v2w/v1
  • Karim LOUCIF1,
  • Amir NAHAL2,
  • Mouslim BARA3
  • 1Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Agro-ecology. Chadli Bendjedid University, El Tarf. Algeria;
  • 2Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Nature and Life Sciences, University of Chadli Bendjedid, 36000, El Tarf, Algeria;
  • 3Fac SNVSTU, Université 8 mai 1945 Guelma, 401 BP, 24000, Guelma, Algérie
  • complete search string
Mouslim BARA
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl83ry7v2w/v1
Protocol Citation: Karim LOUCIF, Amir NAHAL, Mouslim BARA 2026. Complete Search String. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.5jyl83ry7v2w/v1
License: This is an open access  protocol  distributed under the terms of the  Creative Commons Attribution License,  which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: June 03, 2026
Last Modified: June 04, 2026
Protocol  Integer ID: 318476
Keywords: heavy metals, sediment quality guidelines, surface water, meta-analysis, carcinogenic risk, public health, heavy metal contamination, north africa inland aquatic system, analytical assessment of sediment, ecotoxicological threshold, surface water quality, sediment, rapid systematic review, systematic review, screening
Disclaimer
The authors declare that this review was conducted ethically with absence of any potential conflict of interest. This study was conducted without any external funding or financial support from public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Data sharing not applicable, the article describes entirely literature review study.
Abstract
This protocol describes the search strategy, Boolean operators, and inclusion and exclusion criteria used in the rapid systematic review entitled “Heavy Metal Contamination in North Africa Inland Aquatic Systems: A Rapid Systematic Review and Meta-Analytical Assessment of Sediment and Surface Water Quality, Ecotoxicological Thresholds, and Carcinogenic Risk.” The protocol provides a detailed and reproducible description of the methodology employed for literature identification, screening, selection, and data extraction. All methodological steps adopted throughout the review process are documented to ensure transparency, consistency, and reproducibility of the study.
Databases
2w
Primary data were retrieved through a systematic search of the Scopus database, selected for its comprehensive indexing of environmental science literature and its structured export capabilities.

Search String
1w
The search string combined controlled vocabulary and free-text terms as follows: ('heavy metals' OR 'trace metals') AND (wetlands OR lake OR chott) AND (Algeria OR Tunisia OR Morocco OR Egypt).
1w
Filters
2w
* Exclusion
Articles published after 16 December 2025
* Inclusion
Date : article published between 2004 and 2025
Language preference : English- and French-language articles