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Evidence Synthesis and Systematic Reviews

What is an evidence synthesis? How do you do a systematic review? And how can the library help?

Systematic Reviews sound...intense! What else is there?

Systematic reviews are intense and not always appropriate. Within the healthcare field, at least 14 types of evidence syntheses have been specifically identified (Grant & Booth, 2009 - see the article for detailed descriptions).

  • Critical review
  • Literature review
  • Mapping review/systematic map
  • Meta-analysis
  • Mixed studies/methods review
  • Overview
  • Qualitative systematic review/evidence synthesis
  • Rapid review (see Rapid Reviews and the methodological rigor of evidence synthesis video
  • Scoping review (see Munn, et al., 2018; Munn, et al., 2022; and What are Scoping Reviews? video)
  • State-of-the-art review
  • Systematic review
  • Systematic search and review
  • Systematized review
  • Umbrella review

Several types overlap, and additional types of reviews, or variations, are easy to imagine. Most recently, a new type is being developed by the Campbell Collaboration, the Evidence and Gap Map (EGM). There are also types of reviews created for specific disciplines, such as the Qualitative Interpretive MetaSynthesis, which was created for Social Work.

For shorter duration projects or projects with limited numbers of people, reviews that use modified systematic methodologies may be best, such as Rapid Reviews, Structured or Systematized Reviews, or Critically Appraised Topics (see also Kelly & Cronin, 2011).

To add to the confusion, not all fields (currently or historically) have differentiated systematic reviews from other types of reviews, so there is considerable overlap in stated methodologies.

References
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
Kelly, A. M., & Cronin, P. (2011). How to Perform a Critically Appraised Topic: Part 1, Ask, Search, and Apply. American Journal of Roentgenology, 197(5), 1039–1047. https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.09.7205
Munn Z, Peters MDJ, Stern C, Tufanaru C, McArthur A, Aromataris E. (2018.) Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Med Res Methodol.18(1):143. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x

Munn, Z., Pollock, D., Khalil, H., Alexander, L., Mclnerney, P., Godfrey, C. M., Peters, M., & Tricco, A. C. (2022). What are scoping reviews? Providing a formal definition of scoping reviews as a type of evidence synthesis. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 20(4), 950. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00483

What kind should I do?!?!

If reading the descriptions of review types does not spark interest in a particular type, you can also