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Indiana University School of Medicine

Ruth Lilly Medical Library

Systematic Reviews and other Evidence Syntheses

Choose a Review Type

Flow Chart to choose type of review

Comparison of Review Types

Feature Narrative Scoping Rapid Systematized Systematic

(& Meta-Analysis, if appropriate)

 Umbrella

Question or Goal

 Broad in scope. Descriptive. Exploratory or descriptive Well-defined and focused Varies Well-defined and focused Well-defined and focused
Methods No methods section; potentially biased Includes methods section. Search is comprehensive and may be iterative. Completeness of searching determined by time constraints Includes methods section with a reproducible search strategy. Completeness of searching determined by time constraints Includes a method section. Search is exhaustive, comprehensive, and reproducible. Includes a method section. Search is exhaustive, comprehensive, and reproducible. Only includes systematic or other types of reviews.
Quality Assessment None None Either none or time-limited assessment May or may not include Yes, important part of review Yes, important part of review
Synthesis Narrative Typically tabular with some narrative Typically narrative and tabular Typically narrative with tabular accompaniment Typically narrative and tabular Typically narrative and tabular. Must re-synthesize data from other systematic reviews 
Personnel 1 person At least 2 people At least 2 people May or may not have a team At least 3 people At least 2 people
Meta-analysis of results No No No No Sometimes, if feasible Sometimes, if feasible
Time <3 months 8-12+ months <4 months varies 12-18 months 8-12 months

Adapted from:

 

Also refer to: