LibGuides@Southampton: Systematic Reviews: Other types of reviews

Searching the literature but not doing a systematic review?

Consider other types of review. Calgary University has a good overview as does Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh. Read this article on why systematic reviews and narrative reviews should be seen as complimentary. Read an analysis of the 14 review types and a recent follow up article characterising health related reviews by type grouping them into review families.

Realist reviews

Some resources to support the realist review search process...

YouTube video - Realist and Realistic! Searching: Where do I start and how far do I go? Dr Andrew Booth, ScHARR https://youtu.be/ui4SH3z03P0

Journal articles

Booth, A., Briscoe, S. and Wright, J.M. (2020) 'The "realist search": A systematic scoping review of current practice and reporting', Res Synth Methods, 11(1), pp. 14-35. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31714016.
Wong, G. et al. (2016) 'RAMESES II reporting standards for realist evaluations', BMC Med, 14(1), p. 96. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27342217.

Scoping reviews

A scoping review is not a systematic review. They are different types of review but have similar methodologies.

"Researchers may conduct scoping reviews instead of systematic reviews where the purpose of the review is to identify knowledge gaps, scope a body of literature, clarify concepts or to investigate research conduct". Munn Z, et all have discussed the differences between them and there is a useful tool available that helps you decide what type of review would be most useful for you.

There is an reporting tool for Scoping reviews PRISMA- ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) and the JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute) have recently updated their methodology for Scoping reviews to bring it into line with PRISMA-ScR.