Systematic Review

Key characteristics of a systematic review:

• A clearly defined question
• a clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;
• an explicit, reproducible methodology;
• a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria;
• an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias; and
• a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies

Please note that Systematic Reviews are very time intensive.  

Systematic Review is a Team Work  --  

• Content experts - It is important to have team members or an active consultant to provide expertise in the area covered by the review. Input is usually needed from practitioners and researchers representing a variety of perspectives. Usually you will want at least 3 people - 2 reviewers, and one tie-breaker.
• Statistician - If meta-analysis is to be considered, access to a statistician with experience in meta-analysis is needed.
• Medical librarian - Database searching requires specialized knowledge that general research training does not provide. Preferably, the librarian searcher has experience with the extensive searching and documentation procedures that are a part of a systematic review.

Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework

By Arskey & O'Malley