A high-quality systematic review:
One of the first steps in conducting a systematic review is to develop a protocol that explicitly states the review question, objectives, methods, search strategy, eligibility criteria and dissemination plans for the review. Depending on the circumstances of the review, the protocol may need to be registered. Our section on Do I need to register a protocol? has more details.
Some, but not all, systematic reviews include statistical methods and techniques to analyse and integrate the results of independent studies to produce a meta-analysis. Results are synthesised and presented impartially for publication and to support evidence-based practice.
A systematic review cannot be carried out by one person alone. To reduce bias, there must be at least two researchers independently involved in the selection of studies. Often a systematic review includes a team of people and can include researchers, statisticians, librarians, and project leaders and may take months or even years to complete.
A structured literature review adopts some of the same principles and approaches to gathering evidence as a systematic review but it can be conducted by one person and is more limited in scope. This is typically the type of review that would be expected at undergraduate, postgraduate and master's level dissertation.
More information on different types of review and what distinguishes a systematic review is available below:
Cochrane reviews are considered to be of the highest methodological standards. Even if you are not conducting a full systematic review some of the guides and training offered by Cochrane will be useful for understanding best practices. Watch the Cochrane video - what are systematic reviews?
JBI is a global organisation that supports with access, appraisal and application of the best available evidence to clinical decision-making and health service delivery. They also have a very useful YouTube playlist of videos on systematic reviews.