Systematic Reviews: Getting Started

Standard:

• Suggest pertinent databases
• Recommend search terms
• Teach you how to look for and enter search terms
• Teach you about stringing terms together          

CO-authorship:

• Find search terms & formulate search strategy
• Translate the search strategy among databases and grey lit sources
• Collect, de-duplicate, and track #s of query results
• Write/edit search segment of Methods section
• Citation visualization (bibliometric analysis)
• Draft PRISMA diagram

"A systematic review attempts to collate all empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria in order to answer a specific research question. It uses explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view to minimizing bias, thus providing more reliable findings from which conclusions can be drawn and decisions made (Antman 1992, Oxman 1993). The key characteristics of a systematic review are:

• A clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;

• An explicit, reproducible methodology;

• A systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria;

• An assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias; and

• A systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies"

Higgins, J. P. T., Green, S., & Cochrane Collaboration. (2008). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell.