Evidence Synthesis

An evidence synthesis protocol states your rationale, hypothesis, and planned methodology. 

•  It should be prepared before a review is started and used as a guide to carry out the review.
•  Members of the team use the protocol as a guide to conduct the research.
• It is recommended that you register your protocol prior to conducting your review. This will improve transparency and reproducibility, reduce bias, and also ensure that other research teams do not duplicate your efforts.

A protocol template and checklists are included on this page, as well as a checklist for structured literature reviews that serves as a similar document to an evidence synthesis protocol.

• Evidence Synthesis Protocol Template

  Use this document as a template to prepare a protocol for a range of evidence synthesis methodologies (such as systematic reviews, scoping reviews, or systematic maps).

• Planning Worksheet for Structured Literature Reviews

  Writing a literature review for a research paper or as part of your thesis? Even if you’re not performing a full evidence synthesis, completing the items on this checklist and keeping them as record of your planned work (like a study protocol) ensures reproducibility, transparency, and reduction of bias.

• PRISMA Checklist

  Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The 27 checklist items pertain to the content of a systematic review and meta-analysis, which include the title, abstract, methods, results, discussion and funding.

• PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews

  The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews, or PRISMA-ScR for short, contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items to include when completing a scoping review.

• PRISMA Extension for Network Meta-Analysis

  The PRISMA extension for network meta-analysis, or PRISMA-NMA, provides guidance for reporting systematic reviews. It compares multiple treatments using direct and indirect evidence in network meta-analyses. In addition to providing guidance, it also highlights educational information related to key considerations in the practice of network meta-analysis.