Systematic Review Toolbox

The importance of literature reviews is more important than ever in health care. With an abundance of scientific studies being published daily, clinicians and researchers rely on systematic reviews and meta-analyses to accurately aggregate and summarize past studies of differing methodologies. To ensure reliability and currency, systematic reviews are often conducted within the parameters of established guidelines, such as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA); Julius Kühn-Institut and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence’s CADIMA; Methodological Expectations for Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR); and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines. For reviews of observational studies in epidemiology, the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) can be used.

PRISMA and JBI guidelines are used extensively throughout the University of Hawaiʻi system. The former was developed over the past twenty years to encourage transparent reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. American funding agencies, as well as peer-reviewed scientific journal publishers, require studies to follow PRISMA guidelines more than any other standard. A 27-item checklist is provided for the methodical development of a systematic review and construction of manuscript sections including title, abstract, methods, results, discussion, and funding.

Moreover, a flowchart of reporting search results is utilized exclusively. The JBI guidelines are often followed by researchers working for multinational agencies or submitting papers to scientific journals based in Europe. JBI and the Cochrane Library are widely considered to be standard bearers of systematic reviews; as such, adhering to their specifications allows researchers to build credibility in their reports. If preparing for submission to specific journals, publishers will require guidelines to be followed; please check carefully. For example, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has certain recommendations for determining authorship that the National Institutes for Health (NIH) does not share.

Often, systematic reviews are preceded by protocols that declare the authors’ intent to conduct a review on a topic using specified methods. In best practice, protocols and finalized findings are registered with the largest systematic review databases: JBI Systematic Review Register and Cochrane Library.