Guidelines for Conducting Systematic Reviews
Systematic reviews have a standardized structure and methodology to maximize transparency, replicability, and scientific rigor. Conducting a systematic review involves the following general steps:
- The development of the research question.
- A preliminary search to identify the breadth of available relevant literature.
- Protocol development and registration.
- Data extraction, management, and analysis.
- A quality assessment, encompassing the risk of bias analyses.
- Report writing and data sharing.
The authors of systematic reviews should adhere to and reference one of several publicly available guidelines for conducting such reviews. Different guidelines should be used based on the subtype of the systematic review, the type of research question, and the nature of the evidence analyzed.
Examples of guidelines for conducting reviews include, but are not limited to, the following:
