Systematic Reviews

The purpose of this library guide is to provide educational support for PAU students, faculty, and researchers who are new to conducting systematic reviews. This guide contains information on formal guidelines, reporting standards, protocol development and registration, recommended resources for conducting systematic reviews, and the role of the librarians in the systematic review process.

Systematic reviews differ from traditional narrative reviews in several ways. Narrative reviews tend to be mainly descriptive, do not involve a systematic search of the literature, and thereby often focus on a subset of studies in an area chosen based on availability or author selection. Thus narrative reviews, while informative, can often include an element of selection bias. They can also be confusing at times, particularly if similar studies have diverging results and conclusions. Systematic reviews, as the name implies, typically involve a detailed and comprehensive plan and search strategy derived a priori, with the goal of reducing bias by identifying, appraising, and synthesizing all relevant studies on a particular topic. 

Uman L. S. (2011). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and      Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent, 20(1), 57–59.

Systematic reviews are complex, multifaceted projects that require a significant time investment and unfettered access to a myriad of information resources, and the library at PAU can be an excellent resource to provide guidance in your review.

The librarians can help with:

• Identifying keywords, subject headings/controlled vocabulary 
• Resources for selecting a framework
• Discussion concerning guidelines and standards for completing a systematic review (PRISMA, for example)
• Provide instruction on how to access full-text research articles
• Databases to use in your search strategies

The librarians at Omar Seddiqui Research Library are happy to consult with PAU researchers and students on their systematic review projects under the following circumstances:

• The time frame is feasible for the librarians. Database searches are a major time investment, taking a month or more to complete, depending on the complexity of the topic.
• The primary researcher has current affiliation with Palo Alto University.
• The review team has at least two members, preferably more.

The steps involved in a systematic review require time and information-specific expertise. As such, authorship credit will need to be determined as part of the consultation process. This will take place at the outset of the review project and will be revisited as needed.

Please give the librarians at least two weeks' notice to schedule an initial consultation with the above points in mind. All inquiries concerning systematic reviews should be sent to librarian@paloaltou.edu.