Skip to Main Content

Dahlgren Memorial Library

Systematic Reviews

A guide to conducting a systematic review at Georgetown University Medical Center

Search expertise

DML librarians are trained in systematic review standards and methodologies. Our basic consolation service will familiarize you with best practices for conducting a review. You can also add a search expert to your review team through our full systematic review service. To get in touch with us, submit a request using our Ask a Librarian form

Basic consultation service

  • Provide overview of the systematic review (SR) process
  • Inform researcher of SR standards (IOMPRISMACochrane)
  • Assist researcher with formulating the research question
  • Recommend databases and possible gray literature sources to search

Full systematic review service

  • Provide overview of the systematic review (SR) process
  • Check for in-process SRs on the topic in registries like PROSPERO
  • Inform researcher of SR standards (IOM, PRISMA, Cochrane)
  • Assist researcher with formulating the research question
  • Recommend databases and possible gray literature sources to search
  • Design the main search strategy have the search peer-reviewed by a colleague
  • Translate and run the search across multiple databases
  • Save search strategies and document citation count data
  • De-duplicate and merge the citations
  • Deliver citations in reference management software authorized for support by DML librarians (.ris file for EndNote, Refworks, etc)
  • Provide basic guidance on screening process and potential screening tools
  • Advise team on methods for obtaining the full-text of the articles
  • Provide researcher with several documents to include in publication (partially completed PRISMA flowchart and search strategy appendices)
  • Assist in writing search Methods section for publication
  • Run update of searches prior to publication (as required by standards)
  • Conduct a final review of publication manuscript
  • Librarian coauthorship is required for this option