Systematic Review

Last updated on Feb 26, 2026
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Definition: A form of literature review and evidence synthesis. A systematic review will usually include a thorough, repeatable (reproducible) search strategy including key terms and databases in order to find relevant literature on a given topic or research question. Systematic reviewers follow a process of screening the papers found through their search, until they have filtered down to a set of papers that fit their predefined inclusion criteria. These papers can then be synthesised in a written review which may optionally include statistical synthesis in the form of a meta-analysis as well. A systematic review should follow a standard set of guidelines to ensure that bias is kept to a minimum for example PRISMA (Moher et al., 2009; Page et al., 2021), Cochrane Systematic Reviews (Higgins et al., 2019), or NIRO-SR (Topor et al., 2021).

Related terms: Meta-analysis, CONSORT, Non-Intervention, Reproducible, and Open Systematic Reviews (NIRO-SR), PRISMA

References:

  • Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2019). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Medicine, 6(7), e1000097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000097
  • Page, M. J., Moher, D., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., & McKenzie, J. E. (2021). PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews. British Medical Journal, 372. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n160
  • Topor, M., Pickering, J. S., Barbosa Mendes, A., Bishop, D. V. M., BĂŒttner, F. C., Elsherif, M. M., & others. (2021). An integrative framework for planning and conducting Non-Intervention, Reproducible, and Open Systematic Reviews (NIRO-SR). https://doi.org/10.31222/osf.io/8gu5z

Originally drafted by: Jade Pickering

Reviewed by: Mahmoud Elsherif, Adam Parker, Charlotte R. Pennington, Timo Roettger, Marta Topor, Emily A. Williams, FlĂĄvio Azevedo ###