Systematic Reviews: Helpful Links

Version 5.1.0 [updated March 2011]. Editors: Julian PT Higgins and Sally Green.

"The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis provides guidance to authors for the conduct and preparation of JBI systematic reviews and evidence syntheses. The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis has separate chapters devoted synthesis of different types of evidence and to address different types of review questions. "

"The aim of the PRISMA Statement is to help authors improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. We have focused on randomized trials, but PRISMA can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions. PRISMA may also be useful for critical appraisal of published systematic reviews, although it is not a quality assessment instrument to gauge the quality of a systematic review." (Welcome to the PRISMA Statement Website)

"Together with Archie, RevMan forms the Cochrane Information Management System (IMS), which is designed to enable contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration to meet the demands of producing high quality systematic reviews of the evidence of the effects of healthcare and deliver these for publication in the Cochrane Library and elsewhere." (RevMan)

"Because of the pressure for timely, informed decisions in public health and clinical practice and the explosion of information in the scientific literature, research results must be synthesized. Meta-analyses are increasingly used to address this problem, and they often evaluate observational studies. A workshop was held in Atlanta, Ga, in April 1997, to examine the reporting of meta-analyses of observational studies and to make recommendations to aid authors, reviewers, editors, and readers."

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. Systematic reviews: CRD's guidance for undertaking reviews in health care. York: University of York; 2009.

"PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record. PROSPERO aims to provide a comprehensive listing of systematic reviews registered at inception to help avoid unplanned duplication and enable comparison of reported review findings with what was planned in the protocol." (About Prospero)

"Cochrane is an international network of more than 31,000 dedicated people from over 120 countries. We work together to help healthcare practitioners, policy-makers, patients, their advocates and carers, make well-informed decisions about health care, by preparing, updating, and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane Reviews – over 5,000 so far, published online in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, part of The Cochrane Library. We also prepare the largest collection of records of randomised controlled trials in the world, called CENTRAL, published as part of The Cochrane Library. Our work is internationally recognised as the benchmark for high quality information about the effectiveness of health care."

"The main product of CONSORT is the CONSORT Statement, which is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting randomized trials. It offers a standard way for authors to prepare reports of trial findings, facilitating their complete and transparent reporting, and aiding their critical appraisal and interpretation."

"STROBE stands for an international, collaborative initiative of epidemiologists, methodologists, statisticians, researchers and journal editors involved in the conduct and dissemination of observational studies, with the common aim of STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology. The STROBE Statement is being endorsed by a growing number of biomedical journals."