I. Below are the overall criteria for writing a systematic review and the attached PRISMA checklist should guide your writing and the necessary components of a systematic review.
- While students are not required but certainly encouraged to submit the systematic review assignment for publication, it is expected that your submission is of publishable quality.
- You will need to select a professional journal to guide your formatting. Upon submission, you will provide a copy of your selected publication’s guidelines for article formatting.
- The systematic review submission does not have a required word count; \
II. Reminder, the characteristics of a systematic review are well-defined and internationally accepted. The following are the defining features of a systematic review and its conduct:
- clearly articulated objectives and questions to be addressed
- inclusion and exclusion criteria stipulated a priori (in the protocol), that determine the eligibility of studies
- a comprehensive search to identify all relevant studies, both published and unpublished
- appraisal of the quality of included studies, assessment of the validity of their results, and reporting of any exclusions based on quality
- analysis of data extracted from the included research
- presentation and synthesis of the findings extracted
- transparent reporting of the methodology and methods used to conduct the review
III. Keep these tips in mind:
- Define your question clearly (remember PICOS); discuss it with your supervisor and colleagues
- Write a brief protocol according to guidelines for systematic reviews (e.g. PRISMA or Cochrane)
IV. Finally, this resource provides basic guidelines that will help when planning a systematic review.
- A systematic review is often the first and essential step in the research process.
- A rigorously conducted review will help you to:
- Determine what is already known about your proposed research topic /question
- Appraise the quality of the research evidence
- Synthesize the research evidence from studies of the highest quality
- Identify research gaps and priorities for generating new evidence to fill these gaps
- Avoid unnecessary duplication of research
- Shape your future research project and inform your research plan
