Skip to Main Content

Systematic Reviews: Getting Started

Key Characteristics of a Systematic Review:

  • a clearly stated set of objectives with 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 bias; and
  • a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies.”

Roles of Librarians in Systematic Reviews

Level 1: Consultant

  • Three or fewer consultations
  • Advise on databases and keywords
  • Suggest tools and resources
  • Acknowledgement may be required dependent upon extent of consultation

Level 2: Collaborator

  • Co-authorship required
  • May include several consultations with research team
  • Advise on review type, citation management, and protocol registration & development
  • Develop & run search strategies, assist with document retrieval
  • Writing the methods section of final manuscript

Please note:

 

Studies show that librarian involvement in systematic reviews improves the quality and reproducibility of the literature search (Rethlefsen et al., 2015).  

  • It is recommended that you ask for librarian involvement early on in the process. 
  • Developing and running search strategies may take a month or longer. 
  • There may be a waitlist for librarian assistance.
  • Please contact us well in advance of any deadlines so that we may coordinate librarian workloads.

So you want to do a literature or systematic review?

Choosing the Right Methodology: Which is Right for You?

The Horrors of Research: The Growing Systematic Review Monster

Roadmap to Successful Reviews: Translating Searches

Why Should You Write a Review Protocol? UK Libraries

What's New with PRISMA? Extension Updates

Rethlefsen ML, Farrell AM, Trzasko LC, Brigham TJ. Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews. Journal of clinical epidemiology. 2015 Jun 1;68(6):617–26. pmid:25766056