Systematic reviews present a transparent, exhaustive approach to reviewing the primary sources of literature on a given topic.
Systematic reviews...
"provide syntheses of the state of knowledge in a field, from which future research priorities can be identified; they can address questions that otherwise could not be answered by individual studies; they can identify problems in primary research that should be rectified in future studies; and they can generate or evaluate theories about how or why phenomena occur. Systematic reviews therefore generate various types of knowledge for different users of reviews (such as patients, healthcare providers, researchers, and policy makers)." (Page, et al., 2021)
See our dedicated guide Systematic Reviews for Health Sciences and Medicine
Higgins, J. P., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. John Wiley & Sons. Full text
Aromataris E., Munn, Z., (Eds). (2020) JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. JBI, 2020. https://doi.org/10.46658/JBIMES-20-01 Full text
Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, Boutron I, Hoffmann TC, Mulrow CD, et al. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Systematic Reviews 2021;10:89. Full text
Muka, T., Glisic, M., Milic, J., Verhoog, S., Bohlius, J., Bramer, W., ... & Franco, O. H. (2020). A 24-step guide on how to design, conduct, and successfully publish a systematic review and meta-analysis in medical research. European Journal of Epidemiology, 35(1), 49-60. Full text
Schmidt-Hansen M, Bennett MI, Arnold S, Bromham N, Hilgart JS, Page AJ, Chi Y. Oxycodone for cancer‐related pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2022, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD003870. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003870.pub7. Full text
Pittayanon, R., Lau, J. T., Yuan, Y., Leontiadis, G. I., Tse, F., Surette, M., & Moayyedi, P. (2019). Gut microbiota in patients with irritable bowel syndrome—a systematic review. Gastroenterology, 157(1), 97-108. Full text
References
Page, M.J., McKenzie, J.E., Bossuyt, P.M. et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Syst Rev 10, 89 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01626-4 Full text