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Systematic Review Service: Systematic Review Service

Systematic Review Service

Working on a systematic review? Librarians at Himmelfarb are available to help you!

A 2015 study noted that systematic reviews conducted with librarian or information specialist co-authors were more likely to achieve key quality measures in search strategy, documentation, and reproducibility. [1]

The first step is to determine what type of review is best for your project.  This chart describes the differences between the two most common categories of literature searches - literature/narrative reviews and systematic reviews:

Literature Review / Narrative Review Systematic Review
Provide an overview of a topic Answer a specific question by summarizing all available data
Conclusions are typically presented in the form of a discussion Conclusions can be presented in a narrative and/or statistical format
Methodologies are not described; no effort is made to account for/correct the author's own biases Performed according to a pre-defined protocol; minimization of bias is addressed throughout
Typically completed in weeks/months Typically completed in months/years
Does not typically attempt to evaluate the quality of the included evidence Often includes an evaluation of the quality of included evidence based on pre-defined tools
Can be produced by a single author Needs to include more than one author to minimize bias

Himmelfarb Library can help you regardless of the type of review that you decide to do.  To be connected with a Himmelfarb librarian, please email a description of your project to himmelfarb@gwu.edu.

 

For systematic reviews, Himmelfarb Library provides two general levels of service.  While Himmelfarb will continue to provide a free consultative service to our users, more substantive contributions by librarians will now be offered as a fee-based service. 

Consultation Full-Service
Provide guidance on overall SR process Provide guidance on overall SR process
Provide guidance on PRISMA reporting requirements Provide guidance on PRISMA reporting requirements
Give instruction on where to find SR protocols Give instruction on where to find SR protocols
Give guidance on identifying relevant existing SR protocols Identify relevant existing SR protocols
Give guidance on identifying existing SR on same topic Identify relevant existing SR on same topic
Assist in developing PICO/PICOTS question Assist in developing PICO/PICOTS question
Give guidance in determining relevant databases to search Give guidance in determining relevant databases to search
Guide the construction of an appropriate search strategy Construct appropriate search strategy $
Guide the translation of search strategy into other databases Translate search strategy into other databases  $
Give instruction on executing the search Execute the search $
Give guidance on exporting results into Covidence Export results into Covidence and assist with finding/uploading full text  $
Advise on documentation of search strategies, results, PRISMA diagrams, etc. Assist with documentation of search strategies, results, PRISMA diagrams, etc.  Write the literature search portion of the 'Methods' section  $
Free - Himmelfarb does not charge for this level of service

$ Fee-based - due to the librarian time required, Himmelfarb charges for full involvement in specific aspects of the systematic review process.  Estimates will be developed for specific projects and charges will include only time spent on project. 

For pricing details, please email Tom Harrod (tph@gwu.edu)

Please note that the above table defines two typical levels of service - however, you and your project librarian will develop a set of mutual expectations based on the circumstances of your project.

When collaborating a systematic review project, librarians prefer:

  • involvement with the systematic review team from the outset of the project
  • continued communication with the team as the project evolves
  • an acknowledgment or inclusion as a contributing author in the final publication, depending on the level of support provided

More detailed information about how to conduct a systematic review can be found on our Systematic Reviews Research Guide.

For further information or to request librarian assistance with a systematic review, please contact either your liaison librarian or the Reference and Instruction department (himmelfarb@gwu.edu or 202-994-2850).

References:

1) Rethlefsen, M.L., Farrell, A.M., Osterhaus Trzasko, L.C., & Brigham, T.J. (2015). Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 68(6), 617-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.11.025. [Find full text]