Overview / News
Welcome!
Welcome to UNB Libraries' (Saint John) Guide to Systematic Review. The purpose of this guide is to help you find resources related to the systematic review process and enhance your learning.
Many research articles include literature reviews. Literature reviews provide context or justification for the authors' own work and allow the authors to come to a conclusion based on the examination of a variety of different, but related, studies. The examined studies are selected from bibliographic search results deemed by the authors to be sufficiently related to the topic. Literature reviews may lack an initial research question, rigour, and neutrality and may not be replicable. They are NOT systematic reviews.
Many systematic reviews begin with a published, peer reviewed protocol. That protocol will include: a research question, or sometimes research questions; an explicit search strategy; inclusion / exclusion criteria for acceptable review material; the appraisal strategy; and the data collection and synthesis methodology.
Systematic reviews are designed to inform practice, policy, and future research. They accomplish this by providing evidence on what works, where it works, when it works, and for whom it works, as laid out in the protocol. The bibliographic searches which inform them are organized, deliberate, transparent, rigorous, neutral, recorded and replicable. Studies are selected for inclusion by the predetermined criteria and only with the agreement of more than one reviewer. Data extraction tools are used to appraise and synthesize the evidence from the selected studies.
Systematic reviews usually take several months or more to complete and their results can be surprising. As they inform evidence based practice and health care delivery, and may alter local, regional, national and even international policies, they can have a dramatic impact on the lives of individuals and society generally. Although the process of systematic review is rooted in the health sciences, where it is most often applied, it has also been utilized in other fields as diverse as education, software engineering, criminal justice, and information science.
In addition to this guide on the systematic review process, you might also wish to explore:
UNB Libraries' Guide to Nursing & Health Sciences (Saint John)
News and Views
//Reference
Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works which may be related to systematic review, can be found by checking UNB WorldCat, and the UNB Libraries' Reference Materials collection, or may be publicly accessible via the internet.
Guidelines, Handbooks, Manuals ...
Collective Resources
Guideline Matrix, National Guideline Clearinghouse, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US, public access
AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, 2005 forward
Methods Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US, public access
Comparative Effectiveness Review Summary Guides for Clinicians, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US, public access
Standards for Developing Trustworthy Clinical Practice Guidelines, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, public access
Protocols
Developing a protocol, NCD Training Modules, CDC
ENCePP Checklist for Study Protocols, European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance
Three steps to writing adaptive study protocols in the early phase clinical development of new medicines, U. Lorch, M. O'Kane, J. Taubel, BMC Med Res Methodol. 2014 Jun 30;14:84. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-14-84, public access
Study Protocols, Springer Open, public access
Study Protocol FAQ, Medicine, public access
Systematic Reviews
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Cochrane Collaboration, public access
Reviewers' Manual, Joanna Briggs Institute, public access
Systematic reviews: CRD's guidance for undertaking reviews in health care, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, public access
Standards for Systematic Reviews, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, public access
Reporting, Appraisal Tools, Checklists ...
CASP Tools and Checklists, Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, NHS, UK, public access
Critical Appraisal Tools, Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, University of Oxford, public access
PRISMA Statement, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, PROSPERO, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, public access
Trend Statement, Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs, CDC, public access
CONSORT Statement, Consort Transparent Reporting of Trials, public access
STROBE Statement, strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology, public access
Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups, by Allison Tong, Peter Sainsbury, and Jonathan Craig, Int J Qual Health Care (2007) 19 (6): 349-357. doi: 10.1093/intqhc/mzm042 First published online: September 14, 2007
Squire Guidelines, Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence, public access
Spirit Statement, Standard Protocol Items: Recommendations for Interventional Trials, public access
Care Guidelines, "a framework that supports transparency and accuracy in the publication of case reports and the reporting of information from patient encounters", public access
Evidence Management Tools
Software for systematic reviewing, HLWIKI Canada, UBC
GRADE Working Group Cochrane, public access
RevMan, Cochrane, for Cochrane authors / academic use
SUMARI, JBI, registered authors
Systematic Review Data Repository, AHRQ, US, registration for comments / contributions
DistillerSR, systematic review and literature review software, Evidence Partners, commercial
Books, Studies, Reports ...
UNB WorldCat searches the WorldCat database and offers up-to-date availability information for material held by UNB Libraries. WorldCat contains more than 130,000,000 bibliographic records (including books, journals, videos, music ...) referring to the holdings of libraries world wide. WorldCat also includes selected journal articles and internet resources.
Mobile users should note that although UNB Libraries has moved to a responsive web design, mobile interfaces and apps may NOT yet provide all the functionality of other types of web-based access.
Members of the UNB/STU community of users may use UNB WorldCat, to access individual electronic book / book-length titles or may choose to search one or more of our collections of electronic books and book-length materials, including:
Canadian Health Research & Public Policy Collections, désLibris eBooks
Books@Ovid, including, among others: Synthesizing Evidence from Narrative, Text and Opinion; Synthesizing Qualitative Evidence; and Synthesizing Quantitative Evidence
As well, some internet sites offer full-text, public access books and book-length works either as individual linked titles or as collections. Examples are shown below.
Individual Titles
Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews, Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011
Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics, Steven Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz, and H. Gilbert Welch, University of California Press, 2008
Collections
Bookshelf, NCBI, NLM. Note that you can filter by subject such as evidence-based medicine or comparative effectiveness research
Publications by Title, Canadian Insitute for Health Information
Reports, Health Council of Canada, archived
Health and Medicine, National Academies Press
Article / Research Databases
For those interested in systematic reviews and evidence based research, there are licensed bibliographic databases, listed in Key and Additional Resources below, as well as major open access databases such as PubMed, a US government database.
These databases will be especially useful when you are beginning a research project and looking for information on a topic.
For other licensed databases, please see the Article Databases page.
Key Resources
- Cochrane Library (Wiley) The Cochrane Library contains high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. This database includes the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Database of Methodology Reviews, the The Cochrane Methodology Register, the Health Technology Assessment Database, and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database.
Access to the Cochrane Library in New Brunswick is through a province-wide license made possible by a partnership between UNB, the New Brunswick Public Library Service and the eight Regional Hospital Authority libraries.
Unlimited simultaneous users. - Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database The Joanna Briggs Institute EBP Database allows you to search simultaneously, a wide range of summarized and appraised health care evidence, including over 3,300 records across seven publication types: Evidence Based Recommended Practices, Evidence Summaries, Best Practice Information Sheets, Systematic Reviews, Consumer Information Sheets, Systematic Review Protocols, and Technical Reports. Covered subjects: Nursing care, medical care.
Unlimited simultaneous users. - PsycINFO PsycINFO is an abstracting and indexing database of more than 2000 journals (approximately 3.3 million records) devoted to peer-reviewed literature (journals, books and dissertations) in the behavioural sciences and mental health.
Unlimited simultaneous users.
PubMed
Inside PubMed, Clinical Queries search will display "citations for systematic reviews, meta-analyses, reviews of clinical trials, evidence-based medicine, consensus development conferences, and guidelines". However, a more comprehensive search of PubMed should be considered. PubMed provides search strategies to "create the systematic reviews subset on PubMed" and makes a filters sidebar available which allows you to limit your search to particular types of research / methodology such as randomized controlled trials. Great care should be taken if applying search filters. They can be very powerful tools. Before using such filters, ensure that you fully understand their impact on your search results and consult with an experienced reviewer and / or librarian so that needed, relevant materials are not unwittingly eliminated from your searches.
PubMed, public access
PubMed for handhelds, public access
PubMedCentral, searchable full-text periodical collection, public access
PubMedCentral Canada, public access
Europe PubMedCentral, public access
Other Databases
Clinical Trials, "registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world", National Institutes of Health, public access
CDC Stacks, public health publications, public access
CRD Database, Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, public access
OTSeeker, Occupational Therapy Systematic Evaluation of Evidence, public access
REHABDATA, National Rehabilitation Information Center, public access
Knowledge Network Scotland, National Health Service, public access
Journal of Medical Case Reports [Cases Database], BioMed Central, public access
Campbell Collaboration Library of Systematic Reviews, public access
Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre, EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London
Periodicals Containing Protocols / Systematic Reviews
There is a wide variety of individual periodical titles available (some licensed, some public access) which contain protocols and systematic reviews. Be aware, however, that not everything called a "systematic review" in a periodical is actually a systematic review. Example of available periodicals which may be of use include:
American Journal of Nursing, licensed resource
BMC Nursing, public access
Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, licensed resource
Clinical Nursing Studies, public access
Evidence Based Nursing, licensed resource
Health Education Research, licensed resource
International Nursing Review, licensed resource
Journal of Advanced Nursing, licensed resource
Journal of Experimental Criminology, licensed resource
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, public access
Nursing Research, licensed resource
Nursing Research and Practice, public access
PLoS Medicine, public access
Systematic Reviews, public access
Internet / Multimedia
Internet Sites
PRS Publications, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Prevention Research Branch, CDC
Innovations Exchange, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US
Systematic Reviews, Department for International Development, UK
Multimedia
Video Tutorials, Training: Systemative Review Data Repository, AHRQ
Cochrane Canada Live (webinars), Cochrane Canada Centre
Increasing Dietitians' Role in Knowledge Synthesis and Use: Peer Review Training Modules , Cochrane Canada Centre
The Introductory Methods, "an introduction to the purpose of systematic reviews and their basic elements", Training: Campbell Collaboration
The Advanced Methods / Applied Topics, Training: Campbell Collaboration
Citing / Writing
Citing Sources
Citations are a natural by-product of a good literature or bibliographic search -- they come from the results your search produces. They may be found, collectively, in bibliographic databases and citation indexes. They may be derived from statistical databases and other data collections. They may make reference to individual books, periodicals (journals, magazines and newspapers), working papers, and technical reports. They may be gathered from compilations such as bibliographies or appear in lists of works cited and references. Citations may also be produced in reference to material you read or heard, to images you discover, and to all kinds of electronic files which are displayed, read, played, or otherwise accessed.
To structure citations appropriately it helps to have a good guide. There are several standard guides from which you may choose. In university, choosing the "best" one will depend on the requirements of the assignment, the nature of the contents and the preferences of the individual professor. Some guides emphasize a particular discipline, some are cross-discipline and some may emphasize a particular form of material. The material listed below may help you.
Style Guides
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, HWK-REF BF76.7 .P83 2010
APA Style Guide to Electronic References, 2012 edition, licensed resource
APA Style, American Psychological Association, public access
CIHR English Style Guide, public access
Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors and Publishers, NLM, public access
Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, sometimes called Vancouver style, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, public access
Visualizing Health, "A scientifically vetted style guide for communicating health data," University of Michigan and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, public access
Abbreviations and Acronymns
NLM Catalog: Journals referenced in the NCBI Databases, National Library of Medicine, public access
Journal Title Abbreviations, Web of Science, public access
Citation Management Software
There are several commercial and free citation managers. The "best" one may depend on your individual circumstances and preferences. Before investing a lot of time, and any money, in a manager, it might be useful to consult someone at your institution with systematic review experience.
Zotero, public access
UNB Libraries' Guide to Zotero
Mendeley, public access
Ask Us
- Linda Hansen (Profile)
- Librarian
- UNB Saint John
- lhansen@unb.ca
- 506-648-5788
I am located in Rm 210, HWK Commons, UNBSJ. During the regular term, my office hours are: Mondays: 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm; Tuesdays: 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm; Thursdays: 9:30 am - 11:00 am; or by appointment or chance. You can also send me an email using the convenient link, above.
Cochrane Reviews
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Cochrane News and Events
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- Cochrane at the forefront of training in conducting systematic reviews
- Announcing Cochrane Colloquium Edinburgh 2018: a Patients Included health research conference