The GEMLR group screened over 19,000 articles for the 2018 review, and of these 517 were found to be of appropriate quality and content for a full review. Each screened article is then obtained in full-text format and both categorized and scored by two independent reviewers. This edition of the GEMLR found the screened articles fell into each category as follows: 15% in the development of emergency medicine, 25% in disaster and humanitarian response, and 60% in emergency care in resource-limited settings. After scoring, a total of 25 articles (approximately 5% of all of the scored literature is selected for a full summary and critique. This year’s publication included the full summary and the critical appraisal of each of the highest-scoring articles in Supplement 7. 

The 2018 GEMLR authors found that this year’s edition included “studies and reviews focusing on pediatric infections, several new and traditionally under-represented topics, and landscape reviews that may help guide clinical care in new settings represented the majority of top-scoring articles. A shortage of articles related to the development of EM as a specialty was identified.”

The body of published work around international emergency medicine continues to grow; 7.3% more studies were identified as compared to 2017. I would encourage you to looking through the most recently published GEMLR reviews to find content areas that are currently gaps in the peer-reviewed literature and consider finding ways to help prepare and publish relevant work. The great news is that the body of work in international emergency medicine is expanding.