Systematic Reviews: Creating a Protocol

According to the PRISMA Standards:

1. Introduction detailing:

• Rationale
• Objectives
• Definitions

2. Methods

• Inclusion and Exclusion criteria
• Information Sources (Inclusion or exclusion of grey literature, the search strategy, and justification for inclusion or exclusion)
• Search Strategy
• Study selection process including how you will resolve disagreements
• Description of Data Management
• Data Collection Process
• Risk of BIAS analysis
• Data Synthesis

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A good methods section is narrative.

It will describe:

• Resources including interface
• date the search ended
• Describe the search overall, which concepts were included
• Describe limits
• Describe additional search strategies

You should also include at least one copy and pasted search. 

The exact search string will be included in the appendix.

It is recommended that you register your systematic review protocol prior to conducting your review. This will improve transparency and reproducibility, but will also ensure that other research teams do not duplicate efforts.

A protocol documents the key points of your systematic review. A protocol should include a conceptual discussion of the problem and include the following:

• Rationale, background
• Definitions of your subject/topics
• The potential contribution of the review to clinical decision making
• Is there enough relevant literature to merit a systematic review/meta-analysis of studies
• Inclusion/exclusion criteria
• PICOS of interest (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes, Study types to be reviewed)
• Sources you will use to search the literature (& search syntax if possible)
• Screening methods
• Data extraction methods
• Methods to assess for bias
• Contact details

 If you are working with the Cochrane or Campbell Collaborations, you will publish your protocol with those organizations. If you are working independently, consider registration with: