What is a systematic review?
A systematic review consists of three parts:
- the methodological collection of all relevant studies related to the research question;
- the critical evaluation of all collected studies, their data, and results; and
- the qualitative summary of the overarching trends and key findings of the collected data.
A structured and transparent approach is essential to avoid as much bias as possible and to make the study reproducible. Conducting a systematic review properly is very labor-intensive and time-consuming.
In addition to systematic reviews, there are many other types of reviews. You can find a nice overview of 14 types of reviews and their characteristics in this article.
How can we help?
In addition to the three major components from the definition above, you can distinguish several other steps in the entire process:
At the library, we can assist in the initial stages, with everything related to collecting the relevant literature, such as:
- selecting relevant databases,
- building or reviewing your search syntax,
- using bibliographic software such as Endnote,
- retrieving the full texts of articles.
Through the Antwerp Doctoral School, we offer various training sessions for doctoral students on the advanced use of databases and building a good search syntax for systematic reviews. Additionally, as a student or researcher, you can also request individual support.
Useful resources
Important handbooks and guidelines:
- Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions: The gold standard for conducting systematic reviews in healthcare, with detailed guidelines for every step of the process.
- PRISMA(Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses): PRISMA offers guidelines and checklists for reporting systematic reviews.
- JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) Manual for Evidence Synthesis: A comprehensive manual for conducting systematic reviews according to JBI methodologies.
- Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) Knowledge Centre: Offers a detailed manual for systematic reviews and an online training program.
Tip! Be sure to check out this excellent webinar series from the University of Illinois Chicago, featuring sessions on various aspects and steps of a systematic review (including building a good search syntax): UIC Library Systematic Reviews Webinar Series.
Some general tips
- Make your search as sensitive (=broad) as possible. Don't predefine a maximum amount of results. If the number of results isn't feasible (after all relevant limitations), then the research question might need some adjusting.
- If the database provides a thesaurus (controlled vocabulary like MeSH or Emtree terms), include all relevant thesaurus terms. All databases use their own unique thesaurus though!
- Each database also uses different syntax, so you will have to translate your initial search syntax to that of the other databases.
- The keywords you include in addition to your thesaurus terms, have to be the same in all syntaxes.
- Don't use the filters you find in the databases themselves. These aren't sensitive enough for a systematic review. Use hedges in stead, like the ones ISSG lists.
- AI tools can help you with various aspects of a systematic review, but don't trust them blindly.
In the example below you'll find a syntax for PubMed and a translation for that syntax for Web of Science. The syntaxes want to find all human studies on the mortality of artificially sweetened beverages:
Because Web of Science doesn't have a thesaurus, the syntax only contains keywords. These have been limited in both databases to the title, abstract and author keyword fields (syntax indicated in red). To limit the results to human studies, the syntax in blue is added to exclude results that only deal with animals.