Systematic Review & Evidence Synthesis Information Guide (UAHSL-Tucson)

Follow systematic review standards and guidance documents to ensure that your review project is not methodologically flawed. Different review types, such as systematic or scoping reviews, have specific standards and guidance. 

Standards:

• Finding What Works in Health Care-Standards for Systematic Reviews (National Academies)
• Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews Of Interventions
• Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewer's Manual
• Campbell Systematic Reviews: Policies and Guidelines
• USDA Nutrition Evidence Systematic Reviews Methodology
• Collaboration for Environmental Evidence. 2018. Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Synthesis in Environmental Management. Version 5.0 (AS Pullin, GK Frampton, B Livoreil & G Petrokofsky, Eds).

Systematic Review Process:

• Steps of a Systematic Review (Cochrane video - 9:33)
• How to Conduct a Systematic Review from Beginning to End (Covidence blog post)
• Online Method Course in Systematic Review & Systematic Mapping (Stokholm Environment Institute)

A systematic or scoping review protocol is the roadmap for your review project and project team members, and is based on accepted systematic review standards and guidance. A registered protocol alerts other researchers that you are at work on a specific review topic. A review protocol can be published as a peer-reviewed paper.

Protocol Guidance:

• National Academies - Recommended Standards for Developing the Systematic Review Protocol
• Cochrane Handbook - Section 1.5 Protocol development
• MECIR Manual - Standards for the Reporting of Protocols of new Cochrane Intervention Reviews

Protocol Reporting:

• PRISMA for Systematic Review Protocols (PRISMA-P)
• Sarkis-Onofre R, Catalá-López F, Aromataris E, Lockwood C. How to properly use the PRISMA Statement. Syst Rev. 2021;10(1):117.

Register a Protocol:

• PROSPERO
• Open Science Framework
• medRxiv

A systematic review typically includes appraisal of the risk of bias and the quality of the research included in the dataset. 

• SR Toolbox - Quality Assessment Tools (Search "quality assessment" guidance or software)
• Cochrane Methods - Bias Resources
• JBI Critical Appraisal Tools
• GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) training modules 

Guidance about what to include in the write up of your systematic review:

• Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)
• Batten, J., & Brackett, A. (2021). Ensuring rigor in systematic reviews: Part 6, reporting guidelines. Heart and Lung, 52, 22-25. 

Appraising the quality of a published systematic review

• AMSTAR2
• Checklist for Systematic Reviews (JBI)