Guides: A Guide to Systematic Reviews and Evidence Synthesis Service @ ULS: What is a Systematic Review and where can you find them?

Systematic Reviews Defined

A systematic review is defined as “a review of the evidence on a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant primary research, and to extract and analyze data from the studies that are included in the review.” The methods used must be reproducible and transparent.

Source: Undertaking Systematic Reviews of Research on Effectiveness. CRD’s Guidance for those Carrying Out or Commissioning Reviews. CRD Report Number 4 (2nd Edition). NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York. March 2001.

Finding Existing Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviews and review protocols are registered with a variety of organizations.

For Medical Reviews

Cochran Library
Database of reviews in Medicine and healthcare produced by Cochran Review Groups
PROSPERO
PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews which involve health related outcomes
Joanna Briggs Institute
Registered systematic reviews thats are currently underway at Joanna Briggs Institute
Trip
A search engine for clinical research evidence
SYREAF
A database of systematic reviews for Animals and Food

For Social Social Science Reviews

Campbell Collaboration
A database of Campbell Reviews pertaining to the social sciences
Health Evidence
Search this site for systematic reviews researching public health outcomes
Epistemonikos
Search here for evidence based healthcare reviews
The Community Guide
Guide to Community Preventive Services is a collection of reviews that can be used to determine which interventions produce a positive related health outcome
3iE
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) supports studies and reviews that examine what works in international development in low and middle income countries
EPPI Centre
The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre conducts systematic reviews in the fields of Education, including Initial Teacher Education (ITE), Health Promotion and Public Health, as well as social welfare and international development

For Environmental Science Reviews

Collaboration for Environmental Evidence
Database of all systematic reviews approved by Collaboration for Environmental Evidence on environmental policy and practice

Other Sources

Research Registry
A registry for all types of research studies
Open Science Framework
Open platform that supports registry and discovery of research

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

A Guide to Systematic Reviews and Evidence Synthesis Service @ ULS

Systematic Reviews Defined

Finding Existing Systematic Reviews