LibGuides at Priddy Library: Systematic Reviews: Managing the Process

Managing the Research

Black hand checking boxes from a checklist

Reporting Guidelines

One of the first hurdles to get over when writing up a research plan or reporting the results of your study is finding the appropriate reporting guideline.

The EQUATOR wizard will help you choose the right reporting guideline for your work. A few examples for generic study types are listed below.
The EQUATOR search will allow you to browse a library of reporting guidelines, or search for a specific checklist.

(Click image to navigate to EQUATOR main)

*PRISMA checklist
Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is a checklist for reporting systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses.
AMSTAR checklist
A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews is a checklist to facilitate the development of high-quality systematic reviews.
CARE Checklist
CAse REport (CARE) is a check list for in writing a case report. Generally applicable to nursing case reports.
CONSORT checklist
Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) provides direction for reporting randomized controlled trials.
MOOSE Checklist
Meta-analysis of observational studies in epidemiology. For the checklist, see figure 1.
SQUIRE checklist
Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) is a checklist for reporting all quality improvement projects.
SRQR checklist
Standards for reporting qualitative research: a synthesis of recommendations - for qualitative research. For the checklist, see Table 1.
STARD checklist
STAndards for Reporting of Diagnostic accuracy studies (STARD) is a checklist for reporting studies of diagnostic accuracy.
STROBE checklist
STRengthening the Reporting of OBservation studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) is a checklist for reporting observational studies.

Logos of Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley and Papers

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Citation Management Tools

Citation management is essential in a systematic review. There are a number of citation management tools available that are compatible with many of the databases and resources you'll use. Visit the citation management guide to get started. It only takes a few minutes to set up an account with such tools as Zotero, Mendeley and Endnote Online. For more advanced features, you may consider purchasing the desktop version of Endnote.

Endnote Resources

Below you will find selected resources to assist you with various functions on Endnote.

EndNote v8 training materials
A guide from Clarivate provides PDFs, videos, class recordings and much more.
Endnote Overview
A basic overview of Endnote features from Plymouth University
Managing references in Endnote
A guide from the University of Texas provides instructions through text and videos on the following topics:
STEP 1: Document Your Search Results
STEP 2: Set Your Preferences in EndNote
STEP 3: Create Groups in EndNote
STEP 4: Export Your Search Results to Groups
STEP 5: Remove Internal Duplicates
STEP 6: Remove External Duplicates
STEP 7: Share Your Search Results
Managing Systematic Review Search Results using EndNote
A guide from University of Sidney provides instructions in PDF format.
Downloading Large Numbers of Citations
A guide from University of Tasmania - https://utas.libguides.com/SystematicReviews/HandlingResults
EndNote: Finding Duplicates (video)
3:47 min YouTube video, developed by Welch Medical Library
De-duplication of search results in Endnote using pagination
Bramer, W.M., Giustini, D, de Jonge, G.B., Holland, L. & Bekhuis, T. (2016). De-duplication of database search results for systematic reviews in Endnote. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 104(3), 240-243. https://doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.104.3.014
De-duplication of search results using Systematic Review Assistant
Rathbone, J., Carter, M., Hoffmann, T., & Glasziou, P. (2015). Better duplicate detection for systematic reviewers: evaluation of Systematic Review Assistant-Deduplication Module. Systematic reviews, 4(1), 6.

Zotero Resources

A screenshot on where to find that link in an EBSCO database

Downloading large results from EBSCO

In EBSCO databases, find a link called "Email a link to download exported results." This will allow you to download the results in RIS file format and import that RIS file into Zotero.

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Image by Vancouver Tool Library

Tools

For more tools, check out:

Systematic Review Toolbox, a searchable resource to help reviewers find appropriate tools.
Reviews of programs and tools for systematic review maintained by the University of British Columbia

CADIMA - Try this open access tool for all stages of your systematic review project!

The authors of this paper state, "CADIMA is the only available open access tool that is designed to:

assist throughout the systematic review/map process;
be suited to reviews broader than medical sciences;
allow for offline data extraction; and,
support working as a review team."

Kohl, C., McIntosh, E. J., Unger, S., Haddaway, N. R., Kecke, S., Schiemann, J., & Wilhelm, R. (2018). Online tools supporting the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews and systematic maps: A case study on CADIMA and review of existing tools. Environmental Evidence, 7, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0115-5

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Deduplication

Systematic Review Assistant (SRA) offers users a reliable program to remove duplicate records with greater sensitivity and specificity than EndNote. SRA aimed to reduce the amount of time taken to produce systematic reviews by maximizing the efficiency of the various review stages such as optimizing search strategies and screening, finding full text articles, and removing duplicate citations. This application can save researchers and information specialists time and avoid research waste. For more information, visit the OMICTOOLS ' web site and a review article.

Screening

Excel is the most basic tool for the management of the screening and data extraction stages of the systematic review process. Customized workbooks and spreadsheets can be designed for the review process, and lists of references can be exported from citation managers into Excel format for screening.
- Basic examples include Database Search Log and Review Matrix.
- A more advanced way to using Excel for this purpose is the PIECES approach, designed by a librarian at Texas A&M.
Distiller is designed for screening and data extraction phases of systematic reviews. Free for student as a single user for one project for 1 semester with no collaboration with other users,
Rayyan is a free online tool that can be used for independent screening and coding of studies in a systematic review. Rayyan uses tagging and filtering to code and organize references. Citations can be uploaded from RefMan, EndNote, BibTex, CSV or zip file formats.
RevMan is used by Cochrane reviewers to manage the data extraction and analysis process. It is a free tool that is geared toward Cochrane-like reviews.
GradePro is used to create summary of findings tables. Free for single-users and non-profits.

Writing

Academic Phrasebank - Get some inspiration and find some terms and phrases for writing your research paper.
GradeProof can be used for writing your manuscript. Automated high-quality spelling, grammar and rephrasing corrections using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the flow of your writing. Free and subscription plans available starting from $10/month.
RevManHAL is an extension to RevMan to automate the writing of systematic reviews (created by the Cochrane Collaboration Schizophrenia Group).
Oxford English Dictionary - Use to locate word variants.

Text mining

PubMed Pub ReMiner - Text mining for PubMed
Yale MeSH Analyzer - Watch this tutorial (7 min.)
NCBI MeSH on Demand - Identifies MeSH terms in submitted text
SWIFT-Review - Desktop text mining tool specific to systematic reviews.
Voyant - General text mining (this is the download). For the web version go to http://voyant-tools.org
TerMine - General text mining
JSTOR Text Analyzer - Recommends journal articles in JSTOR relevant to text.
CREBP-SRA Word Frequency Analyser (WFA) - This tool helps determine which words you should use to construct and refine a search strategy

Visualization

CitNetExplorer is a software tool for visualizing and analyzing citation networks of scientific publications. The tool allows citation networks to be imported directly from the Web of Science database. Citation networks can be explored interactively, for instance by drilling down into a network and by identifying clusters of closely related publications.

References:

Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2014). CitNetExplorer: A new software tool for analyzing and visualizing citation networks. Journal of Informetrics, 8(4), 802-823.
Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2014). Systematic retrieval of scientific literature based on citation relations: Introducing the CitNetExplorer tool. In BIR@ ECIR (pp. 13-20).

FEE BASED_________________________________

Covidence - Create and maintain your systematic review throughout screening, selection and extraction phases (starting from $240 per year).
Distiller is designed for screening and data extraction phases of systematic reviews (starting from $15/month for students and $75/month for faculty).
EPPI-Reviewer is a web-based program used to manage your systematic review through all stages of the process from bibliographic management, screening, coding and synthesis (starting from $14/month).
CMA (Comprehensive Meta-Analysis) is a software that will compute effect size, treatment effects and create forest plots (starting from $125/year).

A sign with multiple directional plates with names if various subject disciplines

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Disciplinary Resources

Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE)
CEE is a nonprofit organization that provides standards and guidelines for conducting systematic reviews that can impact environmental policy and practice. CEE assists organizations in commissioning systematic reviews and publishes syntheses in their journal, Environmental Evidence.
EPPI-Centre (Evidence for Policy and Practice Information)
Started in 1993 and functioning as a specialist center in the United Kingdom, EPPI-Centre is based in the Social Science Research Unit of the Department of Social Science in University College London. Goals include informing evidence-based policy and practice in systematic reviews and research use (e.g., problem solving, decision making). They support projects of various disciplines (e.g., education and social policy, developing economies), and current projects can be explored on their website.
International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)
This nonprofit organization supports and funds evidence synthesis in topics related to international development with the goal of influencing policy and improving effectiveness. Their outputs include systematic reviews as well as briefs, impact evaluations, and evidence gap maps. Their website includes a database to search for systematic reviews.
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
WWC is managed by staff of the Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education (IES). IES work includes statistics, research, and evaluation to “provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible.” Similarly, the stated goal of WWC is “to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions.” Navigating the interface includes filtering by topic (e.g., mathematics, literacy). After selecting filters, you are able to see effectiveness rankings by intervention. For example, the Early Childhood Education evidence review protocol assesses which interventions improve school readiness, emotional development, phonological processing, etc. WWC review protocols define the scope and parameters (e.g., population, outcomes) of a systematic review, and WWC provides authors with reporting guidelines to encourage clarity and transparency.