Systematic Reviews: Step 2: Develop a Protocol

In Step 2, you will write your systematic review protocol. This is a detailed work plan for your systematic review. You will:

1. Define the criteria you will use to screen literature.
2. Decide where and how you will search for literature.
3. Choose quality assessment tools to evaluate the literature.
4. Decide how you will extract data from the articles you include.
5. Upload your protocol to a website or registry to make it available to the public.

This page has checklists and templates to help you write your protocol. Librarians can help you refine your protocol based on systematic review best-practices.

Click an item below to see how it applies to Step 2: Develop a Protocol.

Reporting your review with PRISMA

For PRISMA, there are specific items you will want to report in your protocol. For this step, review the PRISMA-P standards and the explanation document.

• PRISMA-P for Protocols
• PRISMA-P Explanation & Elaboration document
• PRISMA-P Checklist

When writing your protocol, a librarian can help you:

• Develop and refine your research plan according to systematic review best practices
• Advise on your literature searching methods documentation
• Determine if/where to publish or share your completed protocol