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Shimberg Health Sciences Library & Florida Blue Health Knowledge Exchange

Evidence Synthesis Review Types

What is a narrative review?

The terms narrative review and literature review may be used interchangeably. Narrative reviews are used to summarize the most relevant research on a topic. 

Why would you do a narrative review?

  • You have only one person to work on the review: yourself!
  • You are not developing a protocol to guide your review of the literature
  • A reproducible and comprehensive search strategy is not necessary for the purposes of your review
  • You only wish to highlight the most influential literature to provide background on a topic