Several citation management tools exist that can make systematic reviews more manageable. At HSC, we have an institutional subscription to EndNote that allows affiliated users to download the software onto their device.

For more information on EndNote and links to download, please visit our EndNote Guide.

Other tools include Zotero and Mendeley, which are free to use.

Each tool has different features that support the process in different ways, and it is ultimately a matter of preference or access that dictate which should be used.

Lewis Library has a limited subscription to Covidence that is available for student, faculty, and staff use. In order to request an account, contact AskALibrarian@unthsc.edu with a copy of your protocol. Protocol submission ensures an active project is used for a Covidence account as well as provide opportunity to librarians to assist with the search process if necessary.

What is Covidence?

Covidence is a systematic review platform that is designed to move with a review through every step of the process. Records are uploaded to a project, and duplicates are removed. Team members are then able to easily screen articles right in the platform and perform data extraction from one convenient location. Covidence also keeps track of this information, which allows for easy PRISMA recording. Watch the video below for a demo of the platform.

Cochrane Collaboration

• Cochrane Handbooks and Trainings access Cochrane's full suite of trainings and handbooks. Many are free to access online, but some trainings and modules are limited.
• Cochrane Library is a collection of Cochrane reviews. They are considered the gold standard, and can be helpful to review for understanding quality systematic reviews in action.

Cochrane in the library catalog:

Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)

• JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis
• JBI Critical Appraisal Tools - Checklists for assessing the quality of numerous study types.

Protocols are an important aspect of the review process. A protocol is a team's full plan for conducting the review, and they have many benefits. Protocols help mitigate the opportunity for bias that could occur when adjusting the plan throughout the project. Registering a protocol also allows a team to stake a claim on a topic. Furthermore, browsing protocol registries are a great way to ensure that no other team is focusing on the same topic before all the work is done.

Creating Protocols

Several protocol templates exist that can be used to build a protocol, but they are not mandatory to use unless a particular registry requests them. Important elements to include in a protocol are:

• the research topic
• why the topic is important
• members of the review team and their roles
• plans for searching the literature, including main key terms and databases
• plans for screening studies, including inclusion and exclusion criteria
• plans for extracting data

Registering Protocols

• PRISMA-P 2015 Checklist (PDF/Word)
• Peer Review of Electronic Search Stategies (PRESS)

Search Translation Tools:

General Searching Guidance: