Core principles and methods for conducting a systematic review of health interventions
Search for existing reviews to ensure a new review is justified
Establish the review team
Form an advisory group
Draft the review protocol
Set out the methods to be used in the review, including:
Background Review question and inclusion criteria, Defining inclusion criteria,
Identifying research evidence, Study selection, Data extraction, Quality assessment, Data synthesis and Dissemination
Approval of the draft protocol
Undertake the review
Identifying research evidence for systematic reviews, including:
Minimizing publication and language biases, Selecting electronic databases and other sources, Constructing the search strategy for electronic databases,
Text mining, Updating literature searches, Current awareness, Managing references, Obtaining documents and Documenting the search
Study selection
Data extraction, including:
design, content, software, process and piloting
Quality assessment, including:
assessing risk of bias, and appropriateness of study design
Data synthesis , including:
Deciding on appropriate synthesis (quantitative/narrative) and initial descriptive synthesis
Report writing, including peer review and feedback
Archiving the review
Disseminating the findings
Adapted from:
Systematic reviews: CRD’s guidance for undertaking reviews in health care . Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, 2008