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Syracuse University Libraries

Systematic Reviews

General procedures to help guide researchers through the elements of a systematic review

Do you have the resources and time to conduct a systematic review?

A systematic review is a commitment. It can take from 1-2 years to complete the process from formulating your question through journal acceptance. Input from at least 3 team members is needed, in addition to advice or input from a subject librarian or team member who is experienced in searching the literature.

A sample scenario could look like:

One team member handles the processes of the review: creating data abstraction forms, keeping track of inclusion/exclusion decisions, handling team communications, managing databases and forms, etc. Two team members perform inclusion/exclusion decision making and data abstraction. The additional team member acts as a tiebreaker in the case of a disagreement. One to two team members analyze the data and write your publication. Depending on the size of the literature, you may want to add additional team members. A team of up to ten or twelve people is not unusual for a large systematic review. 

Do you have time to go through as many search results as you might find? Since Systematic Reviews could take months to years complete, if you have time constraints, consider a different type of review.

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