Psychology
This page contains information for conducting a systematic review in psychology. This includes formal guidelines, reporting standards, protocol development and registration information, search construction and analysis, critical appraisal as well as recommended method books, chapters and papers
For database and search translation advice, please see the following Library Research Guides:
Guidelines
This section contains handbooks, reporting standards, protocol development, search construction and critical appraisal tools to give you background information on all stages of the review.
Handbooks
Handbooks are comprehensive guides to conducting a systematic review from protocol development to reporting the results.
- Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. The Handbook includes guidance on the standard methods applicable to every review (planning a review, searching and selecting studies, data collection, risk of bias assessment, statistical analysis, GRADE and interpreting results), as well as more specialised topics (non-randomized studies, adverse effects, complex interventions, equity, economics, patient-reported outcomes, individual patient data, prospective meta-analysis, and qualitative research). - JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis
The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) is an established provider of best practice information in health care (especially nursing and allied health) and the translation of research into practice. - MECCIR Conduct Standards
Methodological Expectations of Campbell Collaboration Intervention Reviews (MECCIR) are standards for the conduct of Campbell systematic reviews of intervention effects. - Finding What Works in Healthcare: Standards for Systematic Reviews
In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain.
Reporting standards
Reporting standards aim to improve the standards of reporting in evidence synthesis. Utilising reporting standards will ensure all the relevant methodological information is included for the peer-review process.
- PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA primarily focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating the effects of interventions, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews with objectives other than evaluating interventions (e.g. evaluating aetiology, prevalence, diagnosis or prognosis). Includes checklists and PRISMA flow diagram templates. - Equator Network
Equator Network (Enhancing the quality and transparency of health research). Search for reporting guidelines in Psychology according to study type, clinical area and section of the report. - MECCIR Reporting Standards
Methodological expectations of Campbell Collaboration intervention reviews: Reporting standards
Details the methodological expectations of the Campbell Collaboration in reviewing intervention effect. Includes an editable table to record and track methods in your study. - APA Style JARS-Qual
APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards. Information recommended for inclusion in manuscripts that report primary qualitative research. - APA Style JARS - QuantAPA Style Quantitative Meta-Analysis Article Reporting Standards. Information recommended for inclusion in manuscripts reporting quantitative meta-analyses.
- APA Style JARS - Mixed (MMARS)APA Style Mixed Methods Article Reporting Standards. Information recommended for inclusion in manuscripts that report the collection and integration of qualitative and quantitative data.
- APA Style JARS - QUAL (Qualitative meta-analysis)APA Style Qualitative Meta-analysis Article Reporting Standards. Information recommended for inclusion in manuscripts reporting qualitative meta-analyses.
- Reporting research syntheses and meta-analyses
Chapter in the APA title Reporting Quantitative Research in Psychology. Discusses how to comply with APA reporting standards for research synthesis and meta-analysis.
Protocol development & registration
A review protocol defines the scope of a systematic review including the research question/s, populations, settings and outcomes. The search strategy for retrieving papers is also outlined in the protocol. Register your systematic review protocol to ensure your topic is not duplicated unknowingly by another researcher.
- Prospero
PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health-related outcome. If your review topic measures health-related outcomes, register your protocol with PROSPERO. - Open Science Framework (OSF)
Preregister your systematic review with OSF Registries. - Campbell Systematic Reviews (protocol submission)
Campbell Systematic Reviews journal publishes systematic review protocols. For information on how to prepare and submit a protocol, refer to the linked Campbell Systematic Reviews: Policies and Guidelines document. - PRISMA-PPreferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015
PRISMA for systematic review protocols (PRISMA-P) was published in 2015 aiming to facilitate the development and reporting of systematic review protocols.
Search construction & analysis
Learn how to develop a database search that retrieves all the published literature on a research topic.
- Searching for studies: A guide to information retrieval for Campbell Systematic Reviews.
A comprehensive guide to information sources, search planning, search strategies, reference management, text mining, and reporting and documenting the search. - PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 Guideline Statement
Detailed recommendation on search strategies for systematic reviews. Includes checklist and practical advice. - PRISMA-S for SearchingPRISMA-S is an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews. Use the checklist to ensure your literature search is adequately reported in your review document. Covers information sources and methods, search strategies, peer review and managing records.
Critical appraisal
Critical appraisal tools are frameworks used to evaluate the quality of studies included in your review. Decide how you will critically appraise the studies before you begin your review, and use them to inform the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
- GRADE Handbook
The GRADE handbook describes the process of rating the quality of the best available evidence and developing health care recommendations following the approach proposed by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Working Group (www.gradeworkinggroup.org). - STARD 2015: An Updated List of Essential Items for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies
Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies. - CASP Checklists
A set of eight critical appraisal tools that are designed to be used when reading research. CASP has appraisal checklists designed for use with Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case Control Studies, Economic Evaluations, Diagnostic Studies, Qualitative studies and Clinical Prediction Rule. - Tolin's criteria for empirically supported treatment (EST)
Currently, the APA is planning the development of treatment guidelines, a process that will likely take many years. As an intermediate step, we recommend a revised set of criteria for ESTs that will utilize existing systematic reviews of all of the available literature, and recommendations that address the methodological quality, outcomes, populations, and treatment settings included in the literature.
Method books, chapters & papers
A selection of books, book chapters and research papers on systematic review methods.
- Guidance for producing a Campbell evidence and gap mapA methods research paper from the Campbell Systematic Reviews journal on how to produce evidence and gap maps (EGMs) to visualise the evidence for a particular research question.
- Synthesising evidence: Systematic reviews, meta-analysis and preference analysis
Chapter 11 in Research Methods for Clinical and Health Psychology (2004) published by Sage Research Methods. Discusses three stages of a systematic review, meta-analysis, and mixed-methods reviews. Also provides an example review, and protocol. - Meta-analysis in psychiatry research: Fundamental and advanced methods
This book introduces the latest meta-analytical methods and discusses their applications in the field of psychiatry. A comprehensive list of methods used in meta-analysis has been described in simple language and demonstrated with real-time examples. This informative volume explains the importance of meta-analysis and describes how it differs from narrative and systematic reviews. It also relates the historical development of meta-analysis and explains methods used for locating and selecting the required studies in a given domain. Suitable software is examined in detail as well. - Basic principles of meta-analysis
Chapter 10 in Handbook of Research Methods in Clinical Psychology
Systematic reviews
