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Systematic Reviews & Evidence Synthesis Guide

Welcome to this guide on systematic reviews on evidence synthesis! The information in this guide should not be considered a substitute for existing protocols which contain prescriptive road maps for your review process.

Systematic Review Support

UT Tyler librarians offer systematic review consultation services for individuals and research groups. We can help with...

  • Translating a research question into an effective search strategy
  • Locating existing systematic reviews and protocols to give you background information for your work
  • Maximizing the balance between search precision and retrieval 
  • Selecting databases for systematic searching
  • Advising on grey literature search strategies
  • Strategies and tools for saving, managing and exporting search results and citations

Systematic Review Service Eligibility

  • The Primary investigator (PI):​

    • must be a UT Tyler faculty member, academic staff member or student. ​

    • Covidence project invitations can be issued to external team members​

    • Project/research assistance will not be provided to external partners. ​

  • If a faculty PI leaves UT Tyler, their new institution should take over providing library-provided subscription services (Covidence, databases, etc.)​

The PI should complete the Systematic Review Service Request form. 
​Your librarian will meet with you to discuss your request.​​

Levels of Librarian Support and How to Credit (select a tier to view details)

  • No manuscript acknowledgement expected
  • 5-6 librarian work hours.
  • Initial consultation/discussion to clarify the research question and to determine:
    The best review type for your research question ​(systematic review, scoping review, etc.)​
    Keywords and subject headings
    Develop a search strategy for 1 database of your choosing
    Additional databases suited to your topic​
  • At your request, we can provide information on protocol development and registration.
  • We will create your Covidence account, generate invitations for team members, and provide resources to guide you through usage of the tool.
  • Acknowledgement by name in manuscript required.
  • 16-20 librarian work hours.
  • In addition to Tier 1 services the librarian will:​

  • Help identify and search grey literature sources
    Advise on protocol registration
    Translate the search strategy and perform searches for up to 3 additional databases.
    Provide a citation data file to investigators (RIS is used for Covidence).
    Provide detailed documentation of all steps taken so that team members can understand and write the methods section with search strategies.
  • Co-authorship required
  • 40-60+ librarian work hours.
  • In addition to Tier 1 and Tier 2 services the librarian will:

  • Provide comprehensive guidance on Covidence project management.
    Write the manuscript’s Methods section and provide search strategies per PRISMA recommendations.
    Create a PRISMA flow diagram.​
    Generate the manuscript's references page.
    Search journal identification tools and provide list of potential journals for publication.
    Proofreading and final review of manuscript prior to submittal.​
    Provide an updated search if extended time has elapsed between screening citations and manuscript composition.​

Systematic Review Service Request Form (for Covidence Projects)

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