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Evidence Synthesis / Systematic Reviews

Essential Elements for Completing a Systematic Review. Question. You should have a clear, well defined question that is narrow in scope and has not been the subject of a recent high quality systematic review. Team. A systematic review is not a single person project. At a minimum you need 3 people to conduct screening of the articles. Your team should include members who are subject experts on the topic and methodological experts with systematic review experience. Time.The average time to complete a systematic review from development to finished manuscript 12-18 months. Protocol. A protocol is a road map of your review. It details your plan for searching, screening, and analyzing.
Should you do a Systematic Review? Go. There has not been a recent high quality SR on the same topic. You have at least a year to finish the project. You have a team of at least 3 people and at least one member has experience with SR methodology. You have a narrowly focused question. Stop. There has been a recent high quality SR on the same topic.You have less than a year to complete the project.You are a single researcher or your team does not have any members experienced in SR methodology. You have a broad question or multiple questions.