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Systematic Reviews

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

Systematic Review Team Development

Primary Investigator/Team Leader

  • Responsible for overseeing the project
  • Ensuring the protocol is followed
  • Assigns tasks and timelines
  • Corresponds with librarian

Subject Specialist

  • Provides applicable vocabulary for search terms
  • Assists with gathering exemplar articles
  • Provides insight into the topic
  • May also participate in PI role and/or screening process

Screeners

  • Two screeners are required for a valid review
  • A third screener may be necessary to break ties
  • The PI and/or Subject Specialist may also screen

Librarian

  • Assists with search term and strategy development
  • Assists with choosing the appropriate databases
  • Assists with grey literature sources
  • Assists with publication questions

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A systematic 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. 

Systematic Review Guidelines

Guidelines for clinical intervention or comparative effectiveness reviews: 

Guidelines for non-clinical reviews: 

Reporting Standards: PRISMA

The PRISMA guidelines are a set of requirements for how you write the final report on your systematic review. Reporting according to PRISMA is required for a high-quality systematic review. 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. 

Research Question Development

The purpose of a systematic review is to answer a specific research question. Research question frameworks, such as PICO, can help you to focus and develop the research question as well as identify the primary search terms. 

PICO Elements Considerations
P Patients/Populations/Problems Demographics, Problem Type, Diagnosis
I Intervention/Exposure Therapeutic, Preventative, Diagnostic, Time, Exposure
C Control/Comparison Placebo, Standard of Care, Preventative Measures, Not Applicable
O Outcome Measure Mortality Rate, Measure of Test, Rate of Disease Progression, Resolution

When formatting your question using the PICO format, consider: 

  • Demographic variables can include: age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status in addition to health status. 
  • Comparison is not always an element within the PICO format.
  • Outcomes measure a positive impact on the patient/population/problem and should be measurable
  • Using the PICO format to develop a searchable & answerable question will provide the elements needed to obtain the best evidence from rigorous studies with statistically relevant findings. 

Additional clinical question frameworks: 

PEO = Population, Exposure, Outcome

PIE = Population, Intervention, Effect

FINER = Feasibility, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant

SPICE = Setting, Perspective, Intervention, Comparison, Evaluation

SPIDER = Sample, Phenomena of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research Type

For assistance with question development, please contact the librarians: libmo@atsu.edu or libaz@atsu.edu

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 systematic 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) In systematic reviews, the participant criteria are very specific and restricted to age, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, past medical history, etc. 
  • Reported outcomes: Critically appraised objective outcomes specifically related to the research question
  • Setting: Clinical, hospital, lab, school, community, etc. 
  • Study design: For quantitative reviews, the search will be limited to randomized control trials; For qualitative reviews, the researchers will determine the study designs included. An umbrella review will only include systematic reviews. 
  • Type of publication: Determines if the review will include only peer reviewed evidence, grey literature, dissertations, conference abstracts and papers, etc.

Exemplar articles

What are exemplar articles?

Exemplar articles provide a foundational example of the type of studies to be included within the systematic review. These articles meet the eligibility criteria and answer the PICO 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)