Scoping Reviews

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A scoping review requires minimum of 2 people, not including the librarian, to complete. 3 or more team members is recommended to help resolve disputes during the screening phase, and to help reduce the individual workload of each team member. 

The PRISMA-ScR guidelines are a set of requirements for how you write the final report on your scoping review. Reporting according to PRISMA-ScR is required for a high-quality scoping review, and is required by many publishers. Familiarizing yourself with the requirement early on in the project can help you make sure you keep track of all the required information and make the writing process smoother. Scoping reviews are reported according to PRISMA-ScR, an extension of the original PRISMA guidelines developed for systematic reviews.

Scoping reviews typically seek to answer broad research questions or explore broad topics. As such, question frameworks such as PICO rarely apply. The JBI Manual recommends the use of the Population, Concept, and Context framework to guide question development. Your research question should identify the population, concept, and contexts of interest to your scoping review.

Your research question may be one primary question, or can be a primary question with sub-questions that clarify aspects of your PCC. As scoping reviews seek to review the state of the existing literature, your question may reference existing knowledge in some manner. 

For assistance with question development, please contact your liaison librarian.

Example PCC Question

What is known in the existing literature about burnout among health sciences students undergoing clinical education?

• Population = health sciences students
• Concept = burnout
• Context = clinical education

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.

What are exemplar articles?

Exemplar articles provide a foundational example of the type of studies to be included within the scoping review. These articles meet the eligibility criteria and answer the research question. 

Why are exemplar articles required? 

These types of articles provide the guidance for the search strategy development and the screening process. 

How do I acquire exemplar articles? 

Exemplar articles can be acquired through literature review. For assistance, please contact your librarian (libmo@atsu.edu or libaz@atsu.edu)