Project Information Form
To connect with a member of the Ebling Library Systematic Review team, complete the Systematic Review Form. You will receive a response within 3-5 business days regarding your request.
Please note: We are only able to provide systematic review services to current UW-Madison faculty and staff in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy, and the staff of UW Hospital at this time. For help with a class assignment or a thesis/dissertation, contact your liaison librarian.
Working with an Ebling Librarian
Depending on your needs and our availability, librarian involvement can range from basic search advice to a full collaboration with your systematic review team.
Since developing comprehensive search strategies can take several weeks to over a month, complete the Systematic Review form and draft your protocol well in advance of when you would like to start working with results.
Role of the Librarian
According to the Institute of Medicine Standards for Systematic Reviews, the systematic review team should work with a librarian during the following steps:
| 3.1.1 | Work with a librarian or other information specialist trained in performing systematic reviews to plan the search strategy |
| 3.1.2 | Design the search strategy to address each key research question |
| 3.1.3 | Use an independent librarian or other information specialist to peer review the search strategy |
In addition to the standards outlined by the Institute of Medicine, a trained librarian can help with numerous steps throughout the planning, conducting, and reporting phases of your systematic review. With our specialized knowledge of the systematic review process, we can save you time and confusion by providing guidance on the systematic review process and the best practices for many of the steps along the way, as well as actively helping to develop and refine your topic, create systematic literature searches of all relevant databases, search the grey literature, and provide information for your PRISMA figure and Methods section.
Image from the University of North Carolina's Systematic Reviews guide
Parts of this guide are adapted from "Systematic Reviews" by Taubman Health Sciences Library, University of Michigan, used under CC BY 4.0.