As you embark on your evidence synthesis project, librarians can help at either the consultant or co-author level.
Collaborating with a librarian as a:
As a consultant, a librarian can step in at different points of your systematic review and:
- Provide background information and resources on the systematic review process.
- Recommend databases, protocol registration platforms, and citation management software.
- Suggest edits for your search strategy. As a consultant, your librarian can provide up to 4 hours of support throughout the project. (These hours may vary depending on the project).
A systematic review will typically require a year or more to complete, and librarians’ availability may vary, so please plan ahead and reach out to us as early as you can.
Co-authoring is a more substantial commitment, and a librarian will typically devote more than a year to partner with you on your systematic review. As a co-author, the librarian will be more hands-on and can:
- Select databases and grey literature resources
- Write the search strategy
- Translate searches to syntax of all databases
- Perform searches and export them to citation management software
- Comment on the protocol
- Perform de-duplication, or train your team on the process
- Advise on the use of article screening software
- Write a portion of the methods section specific to searching
A systematic review will typically require a year or more to complete, and librarians’ availability may vary, so please plan ahead and reach out to us as early as you can.
Below is a detailed chart that breaks down the steps of a traditional systematic review and the librarian co-author’s potential contributions. (Please note that these time estimates may vary depending on the project, and some steps may happen concurrently.)
| Steps in a traditional systematic review | Estimated time investment | Potential librarian contribution as co-author |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Assemble systematic review team and select project manager | Varies | Provide guidance |
| 2. Identify appropriate review methodology | 2 weeks | Provide guidance |
| 3. Define research question | 2 weeks | Provide information on appropriate question frameworks (e.g. PICO) |
| 4. Define inclusion/exclusion criteria | 1 week | Provide guidance |
| 5. Select databases | 1 week | Suggest appropriate databases |
| 6. Select grey literature resources | 1 week | Suggest grey literature resources |
| 7. Write search strategy for “master” database | 1 week | Lead writing of the search strategy |
| 8. Write and register protocol (written compilation of previous steps) | Varies | Provide comments on protocol and guide protocol registration process |
| 9. Translate search strategy to syntax of all databases (including grey literature) | 2 weeks | Translate search strategy |
| 10. Search and export results into citation management software | 2 weeks | Perform searches and export results |
| 11. De-duplicate results | 2–4 weeks | Perform de-duplication, or train your team on the process |
| 12. Title and abstract screening | 2–3 months* | Recommend article screening software and advise on use of software |
| 13. Retrieve full-text articles | 1 month* | Train team on full-text article retrieval |
| 14. Full-text screening | 2–3 months* | Provide guidance |
| 15. Risk-of-bias assessment | 2–3 months | Provide guidance |
| 16. Data extraction | 2–3 months | Provide guidance |
| 17. Meta-analysis or synthesis of results | 2–3 months | Provide guidance |
| 18. Write the manuscript | 2–3 months | Write information retrieval portion of the methods section |
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