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Systematic Reviews

This guide explains the principles of systematic reviews and offers advice on getting started with your systematic literature search.

Extraction and Tools

Even if you do not performa a meta-analysis (such as in a scoping review), you'll extract data from included citations. Refer to your protocol to determine what data will be useful to examine your hypothesis. 

Just like other elements of this process, each data source should be extracted by two members of the team, and any conflicts/discrepancies resolved by a 3rd team member or through conversation. 

There are many tools you can use in data extraction, and to some extent the amount and type of data you collect will help determine which tool you'll use. Cost is another significant factor.

Tools such as Covidence, JBI Sumari, DistillerSR, or RevMan include extraction templates which are (to one degree or another) customizable. However, some teams require more customization than is available and may choose to use other products such as REDCap to extract data. Or, if your data needs less/no customization, teams can choose to use Excel for extraction. Choose the tool that is best for the task.