Systematic Reviews and Other Evidence Synthesis Types Guide

Preliminary Search

It is important to determine if a systematic review on your research topic has been published within the last five years or a protocol has been submitted to PROSPERO, Open Science Framework (OSF), or other registry. If the ES/SR Team’s preliminary search in bibliographic databases, evidence synthesis organization, protocol registries, etc., retrieves a systematic review/evidence synthesis which addresses the proposed topic, the ES/SR Team may decide to stop further work or re-focus the topic and proceed with the systematic review/evidence synthesis as noted in the ES/SR flowchart. Vela and McCall-Wright (2022) describe when and how to update a review.

Benchmark Articles

The individual (i.e., primary investigator/project lead) completing the Library's Evidence Synthesis/Systematic Review Request Form is asked to identify at least three benchmark articles which meet the proposed review's inclusion criteria. Upon receipt of the ES/SR Request Form from the ES/SR Team, the Librarian will perform a preliminary keyword search and/or review the ES/SR Team's preliminary search. Based on the outcome of the preliminary search, the ES/SR Team will decide next steps as noted in the ES/SR flowchart.

If the ES/SR Team decides to proceed, the ES/SR Team can either ask a Librarian to join the team (fee-based) or the ES/SR Team can handle their own searches.

If a Librarian joins the ES/SR Team, the benchmark articles provide the Librarian helpful feedback whether the proposed search strategy retrieved articles that the ES/SR Team would expect to see in the results.

If the ES/SR Team decides to handle their own searches, they can request training with applicable Level 1 – Education tasks by submitting the Training Request Form.