Subject guides: Literature review & study skills resources for intercalating medical students: Doing a systematic review

What is a Systematic Review?

A systematic review is a particular type of literature review. It is a comprehensive overview of primary studies which is explicit in it's identification of published and unpublished literature and it's approach to minimise bias, and is conducted in a way that is reproducible and transparent. (Greenhalgh, T. 2019. How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine, 6th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd)

This page contains sources of guidance on doing a systematic review, on literature searching as data collection, and on other related aspects of the systematic review process.

The Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions outlines the key characteristics of a systematic review:

a clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;
an explicit, reproducible methodology;
a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria;
an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias;
a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies

(Higgins, J. P. T.; Cochrane Collaboration., 2019. Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions, Chichester, England ; Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. p. xxiii)

Cochrane Interactive Learning

Cochrane Interactive Learning
Self-paced learning modules on the full process for conducting systematic reviews according to Cochrane Collaboration guidance.
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Notes:
The first time you use this resource, you need to register to create account so that your progress may be recorded. To register, you need to be on the University network, or to use the Virtual Private Network (VPN). Access to the University network via the VPN.

There is a two-stage registration process – if you already have a Cochrane account, you can skip the first step:

Create your Cochrane account using this link: https://account.cochrane.org/public/signup.jsp You’ll then need to activate your account by clicking a link in an email sent to you.
After you’ve activated your account, use this link : http://training.cochrane.org/interactivelearning to login and register for the Interactive Learning modules with your Cochrane account.

Guidance on doing a systematic review

Doing a Systematic Review by Angela Boland (Editor); Rumona Dickson (Editor); M. Gemma Cherry (Editor)
ISBN: 9781529740974
Publication Date: 2023
Completing a systematic review and unsure where to start or what path to take? Set out on your journey confidently with this practical guide written by a team of experienced academics. With a friendly, accessible style, the book covers every step of the systematic review process, from planning to dissemination. This book will help you to: * Work with qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods data* Understand the how-to of systematic reviews with a range of real-life examples and case studies* Learn from students who have been in your shoes with FAQs taken from actual supervision meetings. This book will not only support you to overcome common challenges and pitfalls, it will give you the knowledge and skills to produce an excellent review and you might even enjoy the journey!Alongside updated examples and case studies, this edition also includes two new chapters to help you write and register your review protocol and understand and synthesise data from correlational and experimental studies. The book is accompanied by an online guide for teaching, including videos, example documents, further reading, software recommendations and weblinks.

Twelve tips for medical students to conduct a systematic review
Twelve tips on conducting a systematic review for medical students with limited research experience. The tips in this article are practical and informed by the authors' experience as medical students.
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Choi, A.R.R., Cheng, D.L.L. & Greenberg, P.B.B., 2018. Twelve tips for medical students to conduct a systematic review. Medical Teacher, pp.1–5.
Conducting a systematic literature search
This blog provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a systematic literature search, from Students 4 Best Evidence.
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
Official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. Parts of this guide will be too in-depth for a student project, but is a useful source of guidance.
Resource list for Systematic Reviews
Resources that can help students undertake a structured literature review or systematic review, compiled by Academic Support Librarians. The link will take you to the part of this resource list about systematic reviews.

Writing a protocol

Writing a study protocol for your review is an important step in a systematic review. It should state your research question, sub-groups of interest, methods of identifying literature, criteria for selecting relevant studies, and methods of data extraction and analysis. (Altman, D., Egger, M., & Smith, G. (2001). Systematic reviews in health care meta-analysis in context (Second ed.). London: BMJ.)

A protocol is important in minimising bias, by promoting transparency and replicability. It can also act as a useful indicator to your supervisor that you have considered the feasibility of the topic and have anticipated potential challenges. (Booth, A., Sutton, A., & Papaioannou, D. (2016). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review (Second ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.)

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P)
A checklist for writing a protocol for a systematic review

Choosing a reference management software tool

Reference management software lets you store, annotate and group references and also automatically creates citations and reference lists in your documents.

For a systematic review, good record keeping and reference management is important for recording and transparency, and it is likely you will be dealing with a large amount of references.

There are a number of different reference management software tools available. For a systematic review we would usually recommend using the desktop version of EndNote, available on University-networked PCs (eg in the library or computer labs)

For help in deciding which is right for you, please see our software comparison table.

PRISMA Flow Diagram for reporting your review process

The PRISMA flow diagram depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a systematic review. It maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions.

A Word document and PDF template are available for download on the PRISMA website.

PRISMA 2020 Flow Diagram

For more information about citing and using PRISMA, see the webpage on Citing and using PRISMA 2020.

Are you sure you are being asked to do a Systematic Review?

Clarify with you supervisor that it's a systematic review that you are expected to do, as this is a very particular methodology. Systematic reviews can be demanding and time-consuming, and the Cochrane Collaboration recommend they be undertaken by a team (Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions, 2019).

It may be you are expected to do a structured literature review, which is similar but may be less involved than a full systematic review approach.

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Literature review & study skills resources for intercalating medical students