How is AMSTAR applied by authors - a call for better reporting.BACKGROUND
 The assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) tool is widely used for investigating the methodological quality of systematic reviews (SR).  Originally, AMSTAR was developed for SRs of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).  Our objectives were to: 1) analyze how AMSTAR is applied by authors and (2) analyze whether the authors pay attention to the original purpose of AMSTAR and for what it has been validated.


 We searched MEDLINE (via PubMed) from inception through October 2016 to identify studies that applied AMSTAR.  AMSTAR was modified in 23% (57/247) of studies.  In most studies, an AMSTAR score was calculated (200/247; 81%).  Methods for calculating an AMSTAR score varied, with summing up all yes answers (yes = 1) being the most frequent option (102/200; 51%).  More than one third of the authors failed to report how the AMSTAR score was obtained (71/200; 36%). 
AMSTAR
We searched MEDLINE (via PubMed) from inception through October 2016 to identify studies that applied AMSTAR. 
MEDLINE
We searched MEDLINE (via PubMed) from inception through October 2016 to identify studies that applied AMSTAR. 
PubMed