Systematic Reviews (in the Health Sciences)

Methodological guidelines provide methods for how to conduct the review project: how to construct a question, how to select publication types to include, how to select databases to search, how to assess bias in selected studies, how to combine data from selected studies using t-tests, forest plots, or other statistical measures, etc.

Reporting standards are the basic information about these methods that must be included in a manuscript: the names of all databases searched, the exact search run including limits and filters, the software package used to run statistical tests, etc. The methods in a manuscript are assessed by peer reviewers to determine if the project followed the methodological guidelines and could be eligible for publication.

Early in the process, the team should select:

• One methodological guideline. Read this guideline and use it to help you plan the steps and processes of the project. There are many methodological guidelines available, but popular guidelines in health sciences include the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (often selected for systematic reviews) and the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis (often selected for scoping reviews).
• One reporting standard. Read the reporting standard and use it to guide which information you need to keep and save throughout the project, in order to write your manuscript. Many evidence syntheses projects are reported using PRISMA, alone or with an extension (such as the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews). There are many emerging reporting standards for synthesis projects of different types. If PRISMA is not acceptable, search for articles that may offer more guidance for your project type. 

Methodological guidelines for evidence syntheses

Reporting standards for evidence syntheses