Protocol Registration
A protocol is a planning document for your systematic review. It will help you complete your systematic review more efficiently and accurately, and it will make writing the manuscript easier. Registering your protocol is a best practice recommended by major systematic review guidelines as it helps to reduce bias, promote transparent research, and reduce duplication of efforts. Please note that protocol registration is even required by some journals.
- PROSPEROPROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome.
- Open Science Framework (OSF)Many researchers deposit their protocols in OSF as a way of increasing research transparency. OSF is the preferred repository for non-clinical systematic reviews.
- Generalized Systematic Review Registration FormThis systematic review registration form is intended as a general-purpose registration form designed to be applicable to reviews across disciplines and across review types. This form, therefore, is a fallback for more specialized forms and can be used if no specialized form or registration platform is available.
Systematic Review Guidelines
Handbooks and manuals provide practical methodological guidance for undertaking a systematic review. They contain detailed steps on how to plan, conduct, organize, and present your review.
- Campbell CollaborationThe Campbell Collaboration is the guidance organization for evidence synthesis work in the social sciences.
- Cochrane-Campbell Handbook for Qualitative Evidence SynthesisThe official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining systematic reviews of qualitative evidence for Cochrane and Campbell reviews.
- Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of InterventionsThe Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.
- JBI Manual for Evidence SynthesisJBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) is an international evidence-based healthcare research organization. The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis is meant to provide authors with a comprehensive guide to conducting JBI systematic reviews. Types of systematic reviews covered in manual include: systematic reviews of qualitative evidence, systematic reviews of effectiveness, mixed methods systematics reviews and scoping reviews, among others.
PRISMA
The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines are a set of reporting requirements for writing your manuscript. Reporting according to PRISMA is required for high-quality systematic reviews.
- PRISMA 2020Download the PRISMA 2020 checklist and flow diagrams
- PRISMA-SThis PRISMA extension provides a checklist for reporting search methods and information sources in a clear, reproducible way.