Conducting systematic and literature reviews
On this page you will find tips on tools and how to get started with your review. Get support and guidance free of charge from your faculty library throughout your work process – from project start and registration of protocols to publication.
We can, free of charge, help you with:
- developing relevant search terms and optimal search strategies for your research question
- conducting a systematic search in relevant databases for all types of literature reviews or clinical guidelines
- selecting and using relevant tools supporting and enhancing your work flow
- guidance and tips on various method standards
Contact and Support
Library Research Support Team
- Ask a question
- Book a consultation
- Request a literature search
Consultation and literature search service are free of charge for faculty members, PhD:s, and affiliated RS-employees.
Common types of reviews
Systematic | Scoping | Rapid | Qualitative | Narrative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Research Question Aim | Collect all evidence to answer a specific research question | Knowledge synthesis: identify main concepts, theories, and knowledge gaps | Address urgent and emergent health issues, and questions of high priority | Study on relations, behaviors, and health care experience | Describing a specific topic |
| Literature Search | Extensive systematic search is required | Extensive systematic search is required | Compressed systematic search | Balance scope/extent with relevance | Systematic search not required |
| Selection | Systematic 1. title/abstract 2. full article | Mostly in 2 steps: 1. title/abstract 2. full article | Systematic 1. title/abstract 2. full article | Mostly in 2 steps: 1. title/abstract 2. full article | Subjective relevance assessment |
| Quality Assessment, risk for bias | Required | Not required but highly desirable | Required | Not required but highly desirable | Not required |
| Analysis, Synthesis | Meta-analysis or descriptive synthesis | Exploratory analysis method | Meta-analysis or descriptive synthesis | Qualitative alaysis methods: tematic synthesis, framework analysis, metasynthesis | Narrative description of selected studies |
| Tools | Covidence RevMan Web | Covidence | Covidence | Covidence NVivo | Covidence can be used |
Covidence can help you and your colleagues work efficiently and in a structured way throughout the entire work process of study selection, quality assessment, and data extraction. Covidence also facilitates collaboration, logistics, and documentation. It can also be used for all types of reviews.
RevMan Web (Review Manager) allows you to write texts as well as manage and present data. The tool can be used primarily for systematic reviews. RevMan Web is developed by Cochrane and user support is available by Cochrane Sweden.
NVivo can support your literature review workflow in conducting and documenting the analysis process.
Book an introduction to NVivo free of charge by the library research support (web form)
Sign up for this course and learn more about working with NVivo
NVivo for literature reviews: an introduction
Cochrane Interactive Learning is a very useful online course for getting an overview of, and learning the essential steps in, conducting a systematic review. You can, at your own pace, go through the different elements of a systematic review to get a sense of the working process. From writing a protocol, retrieving and selecting studies to use, to how to analyse data and assess risk for bias, to how the review is presented.
You need to register with your LU e-mail address before you can access the course modules.
Visit Cochrane Interactive Learning at Lund University portal LUBsearch.
PRISMA, the reporting standard for systematic reviews and scoping reviews, offers checklists to help you plan your review and design your protocol or project plan.
PRISMA Transparent reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
The first step is to search for already registered systematic reviews in PROSPERO (International prospective register of systematic reviews) to make sure that no similar projects are already being researched. This will increase the transparency of the publishing process and save you time. The next step is to register your own protocol in PROSPERO.
PROSPERO at UK National Institute for Health Research website
Save time: request a well-documented and reproducible literature search
By consulting us, you save time and ensure a well-documented and reproducible literature search, based on international methods for systematic reviews (PRISMA). We guarantee a search optimised for your purpose and that appropriate databases, keywords and relevant terms are included in the search.
If you are not conducting a systematic review but need guidance in searching through the literature in general, or plan to start a review project in the future, feel free to book an individual consultation. Our search request services are free of charge.
How to submit your request
Submit your request through our contact form and we will get back to you. Depending on our workload and prior requests, time to start and deliver a literature search may vary. Please, include the following information when submitting a request:
- a clearly defined search question
- criteria for inclusion and exclusion, language, publication period and study type
- 3–5 key papers
- if possible, a protocol or project plan.
Acknowledgements
We request an acknowledgement for our contribution, for example in the acknowledgements section of your publication. We can also help formulate the text in the methods section where the literature search is described.
Things to consider if using AI in your overview
If you are considering using AI tools for your review, you may consider:
- Do you or someone on your team have the skills to assess the quality of the tasks AI performs, so that the results are accurate? If not, you should consider not using AI for the parts you cannot check accuracy and quality of.
- Is there a systematic review in your field where you can see examples of how AI is used?
- Are there validation studies for the tools?
- Are there any published studies in your research area on how AI is used?
- How do you plan to document your use of AI?
AI in your literature search
AI tools can be used when planning a literature search, for example to find relevant terms. However, the AI tools available today are not comprehensive, nor do they enable reproducibility or documentation of your search strategy, which is a requirement for systematic reviews. Therefore, we do not recommend using AI to conduct comprehensive and systematic literature searches
AI tools for selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment
For systematic reviews, AI tools are available for selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment. For example, the Covidence tool has an AI function that you can select to streamline the selection process. The function is called Most relevant and ranks the material by relevance after you have assessed part of it.
Guide to AI use for Cochrane systematic reviews at Cochrane website
Guidelines on how to report on your use of AI
The EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network is an international initiative that seeks to improve the reliability and value of published health research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting and wider use of robust reporting guidelines.