The PRISMA extension for searching was published in 2021. The checklist includes 16 reporting items, each of which is detailed with exemplar reporting and rationale.
Statement / Explanatory paper: Rethlefsen ML, Kirtley S, Waffenschmidt S, Ayala AP, Moher D, Page MJ, Koffel JB; PRISMA-S Group. PRISMA-S: an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews. Syst Rev. 2021;10(1):39. doi: 10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z
FAQs paper: Rethlefsen ML, Page MJ. PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S: common questions on tracking records and the flow diagram. J Med Libr Assoc 2022;110(2):253-257. doi: 10.5195/jmla.2022.1449
PRISMA-Protocols (PRISMA-P) was published in 2015 aiming to facilitate the development and reporting of systematic review protocols.
Related articles:
Your systematized review should go through a two phase screening process after you perform your systematic search for articles on your topic. The first phase is a Title/Abstract screening where you check if the article seems to be on your topic according to your inclusion/exclusion criteria. The second phase if a Full Text where you confirm if the article is focused on your topic. It is useful to use a screening software tool, and a free tool to help with this step is Rayyan, linked below. You can also reach out to your liaison librarians to gain access to the screening software tool Covidence.
While the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews describes the required steps and methodology for a systematic review, its tips on determining the scope of your project and inclusion/exclusion criteria can help you with your review. Check out the Ch 2 overview of methods for help on starting and conducting your pro-paper systematized review.
Lists information to report in specific sections of a high level literature review.
If you are struggling to write your methods section for your pro-paper, see if you can find a systematic review related to your topic and look at the Methods section of the paper for some ideas on how do develop and describe your search and screening methodology.
You can also check out a systematic review protocol registry PROSPERO to see how your proposal might be written.
Check out the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions for more information on literature review methodology and determining inclusion exclusion criteria, but a quick guide is available via the University of Melbourne research guide.
Reference:
Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.5 (updated August 2024). Cochrane, 2024. Available from www.cochrane.org/handbook.
To synthesize the research from multiple studies, you need to extract data from the studies and combine it. You should try and determine the information you want to extract from the studies from the start, so you only include studies that contain the data you are looking for.
Your can report your synthesis in a narrative form or if you extract quantitative data, you can present the synthesis in charts, graphs or tables.
Check out the attached table/use the link to see a checklist of items to consider when extracting information for your systematized review
Table 5.3.a Checklist of items to consider in data collection (https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-05#section-5-3-1 )
Li T, Higgins JPT, Deeks JJ (editors). Chapter 5: Collecting data. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 (updated August 2023). Cochrane, 2023. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.