Skip to Main Content

Screening & Appraisal

Selection

To select references:

  • First - screen title and abstract

  • Second  - conduct a full text review

Think about including and excluding criteria e.g.:

  • time period

  • language

  • geo-location

  • study population

  • nature of the intervention 

  • methodological quality

The PRISMA flow diagram might help you with this selection process.

Software tools for screening references

abstrackr - Abstract screening for systematic reviews.

SR Toolbox - Web based catalogue for SR tools.

Retraction check

Check retractions, corrections and expressions of concern of included references e.g. via Retraction Watch Database. Some reference managers (for example EndNote, Zotero) have been integrated with the Retraction Watch database.

Tags: review article, scoping review, systematic reviews, thematic mapping