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Scoping Reviews

This guide provides a step by step breakdown of how to conduct a scoping review and how librarians can assist in the process.

Scoping Review Protocols

What is a scoping review protocol?

  • It provides a map of the review for every stage of the process
  • Documenting the plan or protocol prior to completing the review reduces the bias and improves the validity
  • A registered protocol establishes provenance of the research project for the specific question

Why should a team register a protocol: 

  • A protocol is considered best practice by the JBI Manual and the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews
  • Reduces bias by establishing your criteria a priori
  • Much of the information within the protocol will assist with the article format and writing

Protocols

Open Science Framework (OSF) BMJ figshare
  • Does not have a dedicated scoping review template; research can utilize other available templates or create their own.
  • Facilitates collaboration, transparency, and reproducibility by providing a centralized repository for research materials, including protocols.
  • Researchers can register their scoping review protocols on OSF, even if they were developed using JBI templates.
  • A general platform for open science practices, including the registration and storage of research protocols.
  • Publicly register and share research plans to promote transparency and reproducibility.
  • Typically not peer-reviewed at the registration stage.
  • Flexible format; users can upload documents or use OSF templates.
  • Any research type (qualitative, quantitative, experimental, etc).
  • Can publish with any journal.
  • Using BMJ Open means you will undergo formal peer review, with the benefit of academic credibility and discoverability.
  • Best for researchers looking for formal publication and wide visibility.
  • Open Access
  • Comes iwth Article Processing Fees.
  • Protocol papers should report planned or ongoing studies.
  • Based on reporting guidelines (e.g., PRISMA-P or PRISMA-ScR)
  • Study must not yet be completed (it should be the planning phase or early stage)
  • Outlines the objectives, rationale, and planned methods for conducting a scoping review.
  • A digital repository that enables researchers to upload and share a wide variety of research outputs, including protocols, datasets, figures, and presentations.
  • It automatically assigns a DOI, making content citable and ensuring long-term access.
  • Does not offer peer review or indexing in traditional databases.
  • It's best for sharing protocols as standalone files or supplementary research materials.
  • Open Access
  • Allows researchers to upload and share their protocols, ensuring that the review's objectives, methodology, and search strategies are publicly available.
  • Provides transparency and reproducibility.
  • Provides a unique DOI

Determine Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: 

  • Developed to define the parameters of the research question
  • Determine the limits of the evidence synthesis
  • Exclusion criteria must be justified
  • All criteria are presented and defined within the methods section with the search strategy

Examples of Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria:

  • Date: generally the search for evidence in a scoping review is run for the entirety of the databases existence. However, it the review is being completed to update a previous study, the run date will begin when the last study ended. 
  • Exposure of Interest: (as designated in the research question) If the review is specifically interested in the outcome related to a specific exposure, only studies evaluating that exposure will be included within the review. 
  • Geographic location: Global, within the United States, urban or rural, colleges or universities, etc. 
  • Language: Commonly a review will limit the studies included to those written in English due to translation issues. 
  • Participants: (as designated in the research question) 
  • Reported outcomes: Objective outcomes specifically related to the research question
  • Setting: Clinical, hospital, lab, school, community, etc. 
  • Study design
  • Type of publication: Determines if the review will include only peer reviewed evidence, grey literature, dissertations, conference abstracts and papers, etc.

Choosing Databases and Grey Literature

Databases

A scoping review aims to review as much of the literature as possible to minimize bias. As such, it is recommended that at least 3 databases are searched for a scoping review. 

The three databases that all scoping reviews should use are PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus.

PubMed, which you are likely already familiar with, is the largest biomedical database in the world, and should be the starting point for literature searching for any health sciences topics. 

Scopus is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary database with broad coverage in the health sciences and an international scope. In contrast to PubMed, which focuses on US-based medical publications, Scopus greatly broadens your search. It is able to get an interdisciplinary angle on topics (the social sciences and life sciences frequently overlap with medical topics), has a broader coverage of the allied health literature than PubMed, and gets to publications outside the United States.

CINAHL Plus is an index of the nursing and allied health literature. It indexes publications from several of the prominent nursing associations and from many publishers. Often the articles are attached in full text. It is of use to nurses and other medical personnel, and social workers, counselors, and physical therapists

Grey Literature

Grey literature is a term used to describe all sources of research or research-related literature that exists outside of peer-reviewed, academic journal articles.

Examples of grey literature include: conference abstracts, presentations, proceedings; regulatory data; unpublished trial data; government publications; reports (such as white papers, working papers, and internal documentation); dissertations/theses; patents;  and policies & procedures.

Why Search Grey Literature?

  • To find information not available in traditional publication outlets
  • To reduce publication bias in your results
  • To get a complete picture of your research topic

How to Write a Scoping Review Protocol