Systematic Reviews in the Health Sciences: Home
What are Systematic Reviews?
"A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view aimed at minimizing bias, to produce more reliable findings to inform decision making." (Cochrane Library)
The key characteristics of a systematic review are:
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a clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;
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an explicit, reproducible methodology;
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a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria;
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an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias; and
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a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies. (Cochrane Handbook)
Is a Systematic Review Right for my Needs?
- Which Review Is Right For YouFull sized PDF version of the infographic above
- Which Review Is Right For You TextText version for improved accessibility
Types of Reviews with Systematic Searching
- Systematic reviews
- Meta-anaylses
- Scoping reviews
- Rapid reviews
- Narrative reviews
What to Consider Before Starting a Systematic Review
- Do you have a clearly defined topic?
- Does a review on your research topic already exist?
- Do you have the time to do a review of this type?
- Team
- Who is on your team (at least two people!)?
- Roles
- Do your target journals accept systematic/scoping reviews?
- What are their criteria?
Review Family Literature
Arksey, & O’Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
UB Libraries Link
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26, 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
UB Libraries Link
Munn, Z., Peters, M., Stern, C., Tufanaru, C., McArthur, A., & Aromataris, E. (2018). Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 181, 143. https://doi-org.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x
UB Libraries Link
Sutton, A., Clowes, M., Preston, L., & Booth, A. (2019). Meeting the review family: Exploring review types and associated information retrieval requirements. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 36, 202–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12276
UB Libraries Link
Health Sciences Librarians
Medicine & Biomedical Sciences - Nell Aronoff
Dental Medicine - Jessica Hollister
Nursing - Amy Lyons
Undergraduate Nursing - Nicole Thomas
Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences - Molly Maloney
Public Health & Health Professions - Michelle Zafron
Bioinformatics - Pam Rose
Consumer Health - Pam Rose
Communicative Disorders & Sciences - Pam Rose
Head of Health Sciences Library Services - Elizabeth Stellrecht
Additional Resources
Interested in further details on evidence synthesis projects such as systematic reviews? See how the Health Sciences Librarians at Abbott Library can help: Evidence Synthesis with the Health Sciences Librarians at Abbott Library