A quintessential understanding of Systematic Literature Review

A systematic literature review (SLR) is a type of review that systematically assesses the scientific literature in a given field by searching for, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant research. It can be used to identify gaps in knowledge in a field, to determine whether existing research findings are supported by strong evidence, and to evaluate existing knowledge gaps.

SLRs are useful for identifying research priorities and can help guide future research efforts. SLRs can also be used to detect potentially important research findings before they are published in peer-reviewed journals. For these reasons, SLRs are an essential component of any scientific inquiry.

A SLR generally involves four steps:

• selection of the topic or question to be addressed;
• identification of the primary sources of information relevant to the topic or question;
•  analysis of the data from those sources;
• synthesis of results based on those data and any other information available.

This process typically involves careful documentation and report writing. The necessity for bringing in a systematic literature review is to provide a comprehensive overview of available evidence on a given topic and help identify research gaps in the domain of research being conducted. This brings us to a very important question – are there any established protocols or review standards that a researcher has to abide by while conducting a systematic literature review in a way that can improve the quality of the review?

The answer is Yes! There are various protocols and standards that you can adopt as a researcher, the PRISMA model is one such instrument.

The PRISMA model

The PRISMA model is a recommended framework for reporting systematic reviews. It was developed through multiple stages of research evolution to improve the quality of systematic reviews. The PRISMA acronym stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The PRISMA statement consists of a 27-item checklist and a 4-phase flow diagram. It consists of five main sections:

• The introduction describes the purpose of the review, which is usually the title, abstract and keywords.
• The methods section includes information about the study design, including how many people were involved, how they were recruited and what was used to measure outcomes.
• The results and conclusions section summarizes the findings of the review and provides a summary of all relevant research in the field. It is important to illustrate and present a clear picture of what has been found.
• The limitations section explains any limitations that were identified during the review process. This section should be as detailed as possible to avoid any confusion later on.

Overall, PRISMA aims to improve the quality of systematic reviews by providing a framework for reporting that is easy to follow and understand.

Why should a doctorate researcher use it for SLR?

The PRISMA model has been considered recognized standard for reporting evidence in systematic reviews and meta-analyses primarily owing to the immense research and quality checks it has undergone over the years in the research and academia belt which has led to it being endorsed by many major international organizations and journals.

It can help researchers clearly obtain a pathway for critical appraisal of published literature and help improve the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of your literature sources. It also enables you to establish the quality of your review through a structured format under the various headings of the PRISMA model.