General Systematic Review Framework

PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review for non-clinical fields.

When to Use

• CS/engineering literature surveys
• Social science meta-synthesis
• Education systematic reviews
• Business/management evidence mapping
• Humanities scoping reviews

Phase 1: Protocol & Registration

1. Research question — PICOS/PICO framework adapted for your field
2. Databases — field-specific selection (see below)
3. Search strategy — Boolean string with MeSH/field-specific terms
4. Eligibility criteria — inclusion/exclusion, date range, language
5. Registration — PROSPERO (health-related) or OSF/Research Registry

Field-Specific Databases

| Field | Primary Sources | |-------|----------------| | CS/Engineering | IEEE Xplore, ACM DL, Scopus, arXiv, DBLP | | Social Sciences | Web of Science, Scopus, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts | | Education | ERIC, Education Source, Scopus, Web of Science | | Business | Scopus, Web of Science, ABI/INFORM, SSRN | | Humanities | MLA International Bibliography, JSTOR, Scopus, Web of Science |

Phase 2: Search & Screening

1. Execute search strings across selected databases
2. Deduplicate (e.g., Zotero, EndNote, or manual)
3. Title/abstract screening (dual review + conflict resolution)
4. Full-text retrieval and assessment
5. PRISMA flow diagram

Phase 3: Data Extraction

Design extraction form with:

• Study ID, citation, year, venue
• Research design, sample size, context
• Intervention/exposure (if applicable)
• Outcome measures and effect sizes
• Quality/risk-of-bias indicators

Phase 4: Quality Assessment

| Tool | When | |------|------| | CASP checklists | Qualitative studies, cohort, case-control | | Mixed Methods Appraisal (MMAT) | Mixed-method studies | | ROBINS-I | Non-randomized studies | | Joanna Briggs Institute | Qualitative, textual evidence | | AMSTAR 2 | Overviews of reviews |

Phase 5: Synthesis

• Quantitative: meta-analysis (if homogeneity), OR report effect ranges
• Qualitative: thematic synthesis, meta-ethnography, framework synthesis
• Mixed: narrative synthesis with vote-counting by direction

Phase 6: Reporting

Structure per PRISMA 2020 checklist:

• Abstract (structured)
• Introduction (rationale, objectives)
• Methods (eligibility, search, screening, extraction, quality, synthesis)
• Results (study selection, characteristics, quality, synthesis results)
• Discussion (summary, limitations, interpretation, implications)
• Registration and protocol