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Systematic Reviews

Advanced Systematic Review Support Service

RCSI Library offers an Advanced Systematic Review Support Service to Principal Investigators, researchers and clinicians undertaking systematic reviews and related evidence based studies. The service is offered   specifically to projects designed to Cochrane Collaboration level or equivalent and eligible to be registered   in PROSPERO1. The advanced service is available from project inception and includes:

  • A dedicated Information Specialist to support the research team
  • Advice on review standards from the Cochrane Collaboration2 and the Institute of Medicine3
  • Searches to scope the existing range of research questions and the evidence base 
  • Discovery of existing systematic reviews, scoping reviews, Best Evidence Medical Education BEME reviews or  clinical guidelines
  • Drafting the search methods and sources for a systematic review protocol or funding proposal

 The Information Specialist will:

  • Discuss the relevant databases and sources of grey literature
  • Construct search strategies for each individual source including study design types, interventions and  population characteristics
  • Execute searches in multiple databases
  • Provide a full documented search summary for each source
  • Deliver a set of EndNote libraries to the team
  • Revise searches as necessary after initial appraisal 
  • Provide support data for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)4 ∙
  • Advise on final aspects of drafting the search methodology and furnishing supplementary information ∙
  • Advise on the availability of systematic review management software 

Contact RCSI Library’s Information Specialist: Killian Walsh, RCSI Library, 26 York Street, Dublin 2; killianrwalsh@rcsi.ie For more information on library support see www.rcsi.com/dublin/libraryor contact library@rcsi.ie

  

1 PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ 
2 Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions v5 (2011). Available at: handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/ 
3 Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews (2011).  
Available at: nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/13059/finding-what-works-in-health-care-standards-for-systematic-reviews
4 PRISMA Statement, Checklist and Flowchart (2009). Available at: http://prisma-statement.org/PRISMAStatement/