How to Conduct a Systematic Review

Arksey, H., & O’Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: Towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19-32.

Boland, A., Cherry, M. G., & Dickson, R. (2014). Doing a systematic review: A student’s guide. SAGE.

Ganann, R., Ciliska, D., & Thomas, H. (2010). Expediting systematic reviews: Methods and implications of rapid reviews. Implementation Science, 5(1), 56-56.

Glass, G. (1976). Primary, Secondary, and Meta-Analysis of Research. Educational Researcher, 5(10), 3-8. doi:10.2307/1174772

Gough, D., & Richardson, M. (2018). Systematic reviews. In Advanced research methods for applied psychology (pp. 63-75). Routledge.

Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91-108.

Higgins J.P.T, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page M.J, Welch V.A. (Eds). (2021, February). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2. Cochrane.

Websites

• Systematic Reviews (Toronto Metropolitan University)
• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Cochrane)
• Systematic Review Guide (Unity Health Toronto)
• Knowledge syntheses: Systematic & Scoping Reviews, and other review types (University of Toronto Libraries, Gerstein Science Information Centre)

Online Courses on Systematic Reviews

The following guide provides a list of online self-directed learning on how to conduct a systematic review

Online Courses on Systematic Reviews (St. Michael’s Hospital Health Science Library)

Registering Your Systematic Review

• PROSPERO
• Campbell Collaboration
• Cochrane Collaboration

Creating Your Protocol

• PRISMA extension for Protocols
• MECIR (Methodological Expectations for Cochrane Intervention Reviews) Manual
• Sample Protocol Template from the Evidence Synthesis Coordinator at the Maritimes Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Support Unit.

Documenting Your Review with PRISMA

• PRISMA 2020

Constructing a Research Question

Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2013). Constructing research questions: Doing interesting research. SAGE.

Boland, A., Cherry, M. G., & Dickson, R. (2017). Chapter 3 in Doing a systematic review: A student’s guide (Second ed.). SAGE.

DeCarlo, M (2018) Chapter 8: Creating and refining a research question in Scientific Inquiry in Social Work. Open Social Work Education.

Denney, A. S., & Tewksbury, R. (2013). How to Write a Literature Review. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 24(2), 218–234.

Thomas J, Kneale D, McKenzie JE, Brennan SE, Bhaumik S. (2021, February). Chapter 2: Determining the scope of the review and the questions it will address. In Higgins J.P.T, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page M.J, Welch V.A. (Eds). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2. Cochrane.

How to Search

Lefebvre C, Glanville J, Briscoe S, Littlewood A, Marshall C, Metzendorf M-I, Noel-Storr A, Rader T, Shokraneh F, Thomas J, Wieland LS. (2021, February). Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies. In Higgins J.P.T, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page M.J, Welch V.A. (Eds). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2. Cochrane.

Sayers, A. (2008). Tips and tricks in performing a systematic review. British Journal of General Practice, 58(547), 136-136.

CADTH Search Filters Database

Videos

• The National Library of Medicine (2013, February 14). Use MeSH to Build a Better PubMed Query [Video]. YouTube.
• UTS Library (2021, February 23). Medline Ovid: Advanced Searching [Video]. YouTube.

Websites

• Searching for Sources (Research Skills Tutorial), Toronto Metropolitan University Library
• Library Research Skills Tutorial, McMaster University Library

Screening

Lefebvre C, Glanville J, Briscoe S, Littlewood A, Marshall C, Metzendorf M-I, Noel-Storr A, Rader T, Shokraneh F, Thomas J, Wieland LS. (2021, February). Chapter 4: Searching for and selecting studies. In Higgins J.P.T, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page M.J, Welch V.A. (Eds). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2. Cochrane.

(see See section 4.6 Selecting Studies)

Reading Strategies

Greenhalgh T. (1997). How to read a paper. Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about). BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 315(7102), 243–246.

Sweeney, M. “How to Read for Grad School.” Miriam E. Sweeney, 20 June 2012.

Bias and Quality Assessment

Boutron I, Page MJ, Higgins JPT, Altman DG, Lundh A, Hróbjartsson A. (2021, February). Chapter 7: Considering bias and conflicts of interest among the included studies. In Higgins J.P.T, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page M.J, Welch V.A. (Eds). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2. Cochrane.

Greenhalgh T. (1997). Assessing the methodological quality of published papers. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 315(7103), 305–308.

Greenhalgh, T., & Taylor, R. (1997). Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research). BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 315(7110), 740–743.

Keenan, C. (2018, April 18). Assessing and addressing bias in systematic reviews. Meta-Evidence Blog, Campbell Collaboration, UK & Ireland.

Checklists and Tools for Quality Assessment

• CASP Checklists Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) from the Public Health Resource Unit, NHS, England
• Critical Appraisal Tools The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) from the University of Oxford
• Risk of Bias 2 (Rob 2) Tool  Cochrane Methods
• Critical Appraisal Tools Joanna Briggs Institute
• Study Quality Assessment Tools  National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Websites for Quality Assessment

• Systematic Review Guide: Critical Appraisal (St. Michael’s Hospital Health Science Library)
• Systematic Reviews: Quality Assessment (University of North Carolina Health Science Library)

Tools for Assessing Bias

• ROBIS – A tool for assessing the risk of bias in systematic reviews
• AMSTAR2 – AMSTAR stands for A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews.

Analyzing Data

Card, N. A., & Little, T. D. (2012). Applied meta-analysis for social science research. Guilford Press.

Cheung, M. W. -., & Vijayakumar, R. (2016). A guide to conducting a meta-analysis. Neuropsychology Review, 26(2), 121-128.

Li T, Higgins JPT, Deeks JJ (editors). Chapter 5: Collecting data. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.2 (updated February 2021). Cochrane, 2021.

Writing

Allen, J. (2019). The productive graduate student writer: How to manage your time, process, and energy to write your research proposal, thesis, and dissertation, and get published (First ed.). Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Holland, K., & Watson, R. (2021). Writing for publication in nursing and healthcare: Getting it right (Second ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Boland, A., Cherry, M. G., & Dickson, R. (2014). Doing a systematic review: A student’s guide. SAGE.

Official Citation Manuels

APA

American Psychological Association (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The  official guide to APA style (Seventh ed.). American Psychological Association.

MLA

Modern Language Association of America. (2021). MLA handbook (Ninth ed.). Modern Language Association of America.

Turabian (Chicago)

Turabian, Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2018). Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (9th edition.). University of Chicago Press.

IEEE

IEEE (n.d). IEEE Reference Guide (PDF).

Vancouver or ICMJE

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. (2021, December). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (PDF).