How to Write a Systematic Review: A Narrative Review

Ali Hasanpour Dehkordi; Elaheh Mazaheri; Hanan A Ibrahim; Sahar Dalvand; Reza Ghanei Gheshlagh

doi:10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_60_20

How to Write a Systematic Review: A Narrative Review

Int J Prev Med. 2021 Mar 29:12:27. doi: 10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_60_20. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ali Hasanpour Dehkordi¹, Elaheh Mazaheri², Hanan A Ibrahim³, Sahar Dalvand⁴, Reza Ghanei Gheshlagh⁵

Affiliations

¹ Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran.
² Health Information Technology Research Center, Student Research Committee, Department of Medical Library and Information Sciences, School of Management and Medical Information Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
³ Department of International Relations, College of Law, Bayan University, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq.
⁴ MSc in Biostatistics, Health Promotion Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Spiritual Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran.

Abstract

In recent years, published systematic reviews in the world and in Iran have been increasing. These studies are an important resource to answer evidence-based clinical questions and assist health policy-makers and students who want to identify evidence gaps in published research. Systematic review studies, with or without meta-analysis, synthesize all available evidence from studies focused on the same research question. In this study, the steps for a systematic review such as research question design and identification, the search for qualified published studies, the extraction and synthesis of information that pertain to the research question, and interpretation of the results are presented in details. This will be helpful to all interested researchers.

Keywords: Narrative review; review; systematic review.

Publication types

Review