Systematic Reviews

The Library offers a tiered support model for students and faculty working on systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and other types of knowledge syntheses. 

We are able to provide up to 2 consultations total (2 hours) to each student or faculty member. Consultations are provided on a first come, first served basis and are subject to librarian availability at the time of the request.

For more information on what services the Library can provide to students and faculty working on knowledge synthesis projects and what is required of you before your first appointment, please read the Knowledge Synthesis Support Guideline (linked below).

Note: Faculty members, research assistants, and post-doctoral researchers working on their own reviews and requiring Level 2 support, must fill out the Knowledge Synthesis Project Proposal Form and submit their protocol by email to their subject librarian 5 business days before their first appointment. For more information, please see the 'Level 2: What is required of you' section of the Knowledge Synthesis Support Guideline. Once these documents are received, your subject librarian will email you to set up an appointment.

“A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit methods aimed at minimizing bias, in order to produce more reliable findings that can be used to inform decision making.”

- Cochrane Library

Systematic reviews should be done:

• When there is a large body of primary research on a specific research question
• When a transparent search methodology and replicability are needed
• When multiple published studies point to contradictory outcomes
• When an existing systematic review is outdated (consider updating the existing review)
• When no ongoing or existing systematic review addresses your research question. Try searching the following resources for protocols or completed systematic reviews before you get started:

Time: The length of time needed to complete a systematic review ranges from 6 months to 2 years, with an average mean project length of 67.3 weeks or over a year (Khangura et al., 2012; Borah et al., 2017)

Teamwork: A systematic review cannot be done alone. Results must be screened and appraised by a minimum of two reviewers, ideally  with a third available to settle any disagreements.

Tools: Access to a citation management tool with sharing capabilities (e.g. EndNote). 

Systematic reviews require a lot of time and effort to complete; a reasonable time frame is rarely under one year. The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions suggests the following timeline to complete a Cochrane Review:

This guide was created by Ontario Tech Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License, except where otherwise noted.