FAQs for Systematic and Scoping Reviews

A protocol is essential for the following reasons:

• The protocol provides a detailed plan that can address any questions about your methodology, ensuring consistency in your approach.
• A protocol helps identify potential issues early in the review process, such as challenges related to feasibility or scope.
• A protocol demonstrates your understanding of the systematic or scoping review process
• The development of a protocol increases transparency and reduces bias.
• Your protocol is necessary to meet PRISMA guidelines.
• Having a protocol is required for collaborating with Galter librarians.

Here are Galter resources to help you with developing a protocol:

• Conducting a Systematic Review: Part 1 - Planning the Process [class]
• Conducting a Systematic Review: Part 2 - Tools & Resources [class]
• Systematic Reviews: Protocol Development [GalterGuide]
• Scoping Reviews: Protocol Development [GalterGuide]

Conducting a systematic review involves the following steps:

• Defining the Research Question: Clearly stating the scope and focus.
• Developing a Protocol: Documenting the review process in detail.
• Conducting a Comprehensive Literature Search: Using multiple databases and grey literature sources.
• Screening and Selecting Studies: Applying inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify relevant studies.
• Extracting Data: Collecting information from included studies.
• Assessing the Risk of Bias: Evaluating study quality.
• Synthesizing the Evidence: Using qualitative or quantitative methods to summarize findings.
• Writing and Reporting the Review: Following guidelines like PRISMA to document findings.

Registering a protocol can be done on platforms like PROSPERO for systematic reviews or Open Science Framework (OSF) Registries for scoping reviews. 

Registration is important because:

• It helps prevents duplication of reviews on the same topic.
• It ensures transparency in the review process.
• It allows for peer feedback, which can improve the quality of the review.
• It serves as a public record of your planned methodology.