Systematic Reviews

A systematic review gathers, assesses, and synthesizes all available empirical research on a specific question using a comprehensive search method with an aim to minimize bias.

The key characteristics of a systematic review are:

• A clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;
• An explicit, reproducible methodology;
• A systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria;
• A critical appraisal of the included studies;
• A systematic presentation and synthesis of the characteristics and findings of the included studies.

There are many types of reviews --- narrative reviews, scoping reviews, systematic reviews, integrative reviews, umbrella reviews, and others --- and it's not always straightforward to choose which type of review to conduct. These Review Navigator tools (see below) ask a series of questions to guide you through the various kinds of reviews and determine the best choice for your research needs.

• Systematic reviews require a considerable amount of time and a team of individuals to actively contribute. 
• Limiting reviews to one study method has the potential to narrow the utility of the findings.
• A research question for a systematic review must be already well-covered in the primary literature.
• Systematic reviews do not solve methodological problems in studies.
• The reporting of previous systematic reviews may vary, making it increasingly necessary to provide clarity in methodology. 
• Databases used to pull results may be limited by institutional access.