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A systematic review attempts to gather all the empirical evidence that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question.
It uses explicit, systematic methods that are selected with a view to minimizing bias, thus providing more reliable findings from which conclusions can be drawn and decisions made.
The key characteristics of a systematic review are:
Sources
Page, M. J., Moher, D., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S., … McKenzie, J. E. (2021). PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ (Online), 372, n160–n160. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n160
Researchers conducting a systematic review need to follow various predetermined yet flexible and iterative stages that describe necessary steps required to produce a rigorous synthesis of the literature.
Steps include:
Acknowledgement: This guide is based on the PIECES acronym developed by M. J. Foster and S. T. Jewell in their book Assembling the PIECES of a systematic review: A guide for librarians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017).