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Systematic and Other Reviews: Protocol

This guide contains information about systematic reviews and links to resources to help you conduct one.

Protocol

 

A protocol is a blueprint for how you are going to conduct your review. It needs to be written and lodged before you begin.

Preparing a protocol

 

A protocol is a living document that is updated throughout the course of your review. It is a record of the methods you will use to conduct your review. 

Standards and manuals like PRISMA-P (for quantitative reviews) or JBI (for qualitative reviews) describe the necessary elements that need to be included, for your protocol to have sufficient detail.

See below for a list of checklists and guidelines.

  • PRISMA-P (2020) - quantitative reviews
  • PROSPERO - various review types including qualitative and quantitative
  • JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis - Chapter 2.6 (Protocols for Qualitative Reviews)
  • Cochrane’s MECIR - quantitative and qualitative reviews
  • Campbell Collaboration's MECCIR - quantitative and qualitative reviews (see section under Methodological Expectations of Campbell Collaboration Intervention Reviews)

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

 

Your protocol will prompt you to articulate what characteristics each study must have to be included or excluded from your review. Not only does this criteria help you clarify the scope of your review, but it helps ensure the data you collect is sufficiently "alike" so you can perform your analysis or synthesis.

This criteria is very important during the screening stage. If your criteria is not detailed enough, you may need to spend more time later establishing consensus among your reviewers about what to include or exclude. 

See below for an example.

Lodging a Protocol 

 

Before lodging your protocol ensure it includes: 

  • Research questions and aims of the review.
  • Your PICO breakdown (or the relevant mnemonic you are using).
  • Your eligibility criteria (inclusion and exclusion).
  • Where you will search (databases and grey literature).
  • How you will:
    • screen your records
    • extract and manage the data
    • assess bias
    • analyse data

You may want to consider lodging in the below protocol registries: