LibGuides: Systematic Reviews: Further Support

Systematic Review Support

When you are ready, we are able to offer one-to-one meetings to discuss your specific questions about systematic reviews. In these meetings we can give advice about search strategy development or how a reference manager can be used to aid in the management of the systematic review.

We are not able to carry out searches for any assessed pieces of university work (including assignments, dissertations, or PhD theses, even if you plan to publish them later).

If you are conducting a systematic review and would like us to do the search for you please contact us on hhsl@uhi.ac.uk and we will get back to you to provide the help you need. We would expect to be included as co-authors on any published systematic reviews/work resulting from this assistance.

Structure, Form and Content

Eleanor and Veronica from the Cambridge University Medical Library have published a peer-reviewed journal article on structure, form, and content of systematic reviews:

Phillips, V., and Barker, E. Systematic reviews: structure, form and content. (link opens in new window) Journal of Perioperative Practice (2021); online first.

Websites

Several years ago the Medical Library made a systematic reviews advent calendar (link opens in new window), covering 24 different resources which help at different stages of the systematic review process.

A number of other libraries have produced guides to systematic reviews. Please find links to some of these below.

University of Oxford (link opens in new window)
University of Exeter (link opens in new window)
University of British Columbia (link opens in new window)
Queen’s University Library (link opens in new window)
Duke University (link opens in new window)

Books

The Library holds a number of books on the process of systematic reviewing. A selection of these are given below.

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions by Julian P. T. Higgins (Editor); James Thomas (Editor); Jacqueline Chandler (Associate Editor); Miranda Cumpston (Associate Editor); Tianjing Li (Associate Editor); Matthew J. Page (Associate Editor); Vivian A. Welch (Associate Editor)
ISBN: 9781119536628
Publication Date: 2019-10-28
The revised edition of the Handbook offers the only guide on how to conduct, report and maintain a Cochrane Review   The second edition of The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions contains essential guidance for preparing and maintaining Cochrane Reviews of the effects of health interventions. Designed to be an accessible resource, the Handbook will also be of interest to anyone undertaking systematic reviews of interventions outside Cochrane, and many of the principles and methods presented are appropriate for systematic reviews addressing research questions other than effects of interventions. This fully updated edition contains extensive new material on systematic review methods addressing a wide-range of topics including network meta-analysis, equity, complex interventions, narrative synthesis, and automation. Also new to this edition, integrated throughout the Handbook, is the set of standards Cochrane expects its reviews to meet. Written for review authors, editors, trainers and others with an interest in Cochrane Reviews, the second edition of The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions continues to offer an invaluable resource for understanding the role of systematic reviews, critically appraising health research studies and conducting reviews.
Systematic Reviews in Health Care by Paul Glasziou; Chris Bain; Graham Colditz; Les Irwig
ISBN: 0521799627
Publication Date: 2001-11-08
What do we do if different studies appear to give different answers? When applying research to questions for individual patients or for health policy, one of the challenges is interpreting such apparently conflicting research. A systematic review is a method to systematically identify relevant research, appraise its quality, and synthesize the results. The last two decades have seen increasing interest and developments in methods for doing high quality systematic reviews. Part I of this book provides a clear introduction to the concepts of reviewing, and lucidly describes the difficulties and traps to avoid. A unique feature of the book is its description, in Part II, of the different methods needed for different types of health care questions: frequency of disease, prognosis, diagnosis, risk, and management. As well as illustrative examples, there are exercises for each of the sections. This is essential reading for those interested in synthesizing health care research.
Systematic Reviews in Health Care by Iain Chalmers; David Moher; Miranda Mugford; Jonathan Sterne; Douglas Altman (Editor); Mike Clarke; Jon Deeks; Muir Gray; Peter Juni; Carolyn J. Lefebvre; Henry McQuay; Andy Oxman
ISBN: 0727909045
Publication Date: 1995-03-01
Over two million biomedical papers are published each year, making it impossible for health care workers to keep up to date on current knowledge. Reviews are needed to provide manageable information on which decisions on health policy, and individual treatment, can be based. But how can the quality of these reviews be judged?

Contact Us

For any assistance/advice required please contact the Library Team at: hhsl@uhi.ac.uk