The initial bibliography was compiled from the following databases: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED, which includes PUBMED); Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI); Arts & Humanities Citation Index using a multi-phase exclusion strategy in November 2004. The researchers began by identifying all VA- or veteran-related articles (n=9,794). They downloaded this set into Reference Manager™ software, which scanned and indexed the key words of all articles. From this initial set, the researchers identified all articles with key words that might broadly relate to VA-defined vulnerable groups (such as elderly, poor, women, racial subpopulations, homeless) (n=4737). From this set, the researchers used key words that might imply a comparison between groups (such as difference or disparity) to define a core set of articles for manual review, and limited this core to journal articles only (n=1032). The researchers manually reviewed each title to judge its relevance. If the title was questionable or unrevealing, the researchers reviewed the abstract to decide on its relevance. The first manual review identified 334 articles that were possibly relevant to health and health care disparities in VA or veteran populations. A second manual review of these articles by another researcher excluded a number of articles that did not report original research, or did not focus primarily on veterans (such as those that reported veteran status only tangentially), resulting in 276 articles. A third review excluded articles that did not report on health disparities, yielding 264 articles. This initial bibliography included articles published from January 1990 to October 2004.

The research team plans to implement the search strategy again in August 2007 and at regular intervals thereafter. The database currently reflects VA research published from January 1990 to October 2004.