LibGuides: Systematic Review Guide: Library Services & Resources

Librarian Assistance

General Guidance

If you are on a systematic review team whether with us or through another organization such as a hospital, the Medical Libray can support and guide you in the following ways:

Describe what a systematic review is and when it is appropriate.
Recommend other study designs if not appropriate or workshop your research question.
Explain the steps of the systematic review process.
Provide resources to register a protocol and write the review.
Troubleshoot your search strategy.
Indicate which databases will be relevant.

If only providing consultative services, we will not:

Conduct the search.
Manage search results.
Write the methods section.

If you plan to include a librarian-developed search strategy (either as an appendix or in the text), please acknowledge the librarian by name. Copying and pasting a search string, word-for-word, justifies an acknowledgment by name. Possible acknowledgment: “We would like to thank (librarian) from the Medical Library of NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine for her work on the literature search strategy for this review.”

Authorship

Reviews often contain a lot of librarian involvement and it is recommended that a librarian be a part of the systematic review team. The services provided when a librarian is a co-author include what was previously stated and:

Guidance on inclusion & exclusion criteria.
Assistance with writing and registering a protocol.
Development and execution of searches.
Citation management and deduplication of all search results.
Write the relevant sections of the manuscript.
Review other manuscipt sections and final draft.

To begin the process with a librarian or to meet to discuss general guidance for your systematic review, please fill out the Systematic Review Consultation Form.

Source: Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews