Introduction: Librarians recommend incorporating regional databases (i.e., non-commercial databases focused on regions underrepresented in commercial databases) in knowledge synthesis (KS) projects as a step toward decolonizing literature searching. However, there is limited research on the effect of this inclusion on review results. This case study presents an analysis of the results from a scoping review on domestic violence among older adults in Latin American countries, investigating the impact of incorporating regional databases and bilingual search strategies.

Methods: Searches were conducted in five commercial and eight regional databases in Spanish and English. RIS files were imported to EndNote and separated by database and search language. The DOI and article titles for each report included in the final review were searched for using the advanced search feature; database and language were noted for each positive inclusion.

Results: Three of nine reports included in the review were absent from the commercial database results, and each of these three was found in a unique regional database. Among 12 overall positive inclusions in regional databases, five were from Spanish searches, four from English searches, and three from both Spanish and English searches.

Conclusion: The inclusion of regional databases had a substantial effect on the results of a recent scoping review, as one-third of included reports were not found in commercial databases. The results of the analysis also supported the decision to search in multiple regional databases and languages. More research is needed to discover if these findings remain consistent on a larger scale.