Systematic review guide

This guide takes you step by step through the process of conducting a systematic review. 

Who is this guide for

This guide has been created to support everyone in Imperial College London involved in doing a systematic review of any type.
While it mainly focuses on review methods for healthcare contexts, much of the guidance is applicable to reviews in other disciplines. NHS staff conducting reviews will also find it useful and material relevant to wider groups will be introduced as the guide continues to develop.

How to use the guide

Each section of the guide introduces the activities involved in that step of a review and highlights any necessary documentation or mandatory reporting items relevant to that step. Every section provides links to further resources to support the review activities such as specific chapters in guidelines, more detailed guides or useful journal articles. Where relevant, tools to manage or support systematic reviews (such as Covidence) are discussed.

• To start using the guide read through Section 1 to check if your project requires a systematic review or if another type of literature review would be more suitable.
• Read over the guide as a whole to ensure you are familiar with what each step of a review entails. 
• To prepare a protocol you will need to use multiple sections of the review, even though you have not officially reached these steps in the review proper.
• This guide is based on best practice for conducting reviews but it should act as a "roadmap" for your journey through your review, complete with signposts and alternative routes, not as a formal guideline or official methodology. 

Who wrote this guide

The guide has been created by the Library Services Medicine Librarian team. The team are expert searchers and have supported the Imperial College London community with a wide range of review types and topics. As such, we have used our experiences to ensure the guide addresses the common difficulties, pitfalls and misunderstandings we find reviewers encounter.
To get in touch with a medicine librarian or for further guidance see the Help and Support section of this guide. 

The guide is a "living" document and is subject to regular edits and updates.

We encourage anyone carrying out a systematic review, to get involved in our Systematic Reviews Community of Practice (CoP). This is an MS Teams group where questions, answers, experiences and best practice can be posted among fellow peers engaged in the review process. 

The CoP is open to anyone doing or preparing to do a review at Imperial College London and affiliated NHS organisations.
Join the group