Tip: Look for these icons for guidance on which technique is required
Systematic Review
Integrative Review
Rapid Review
Scoping Review
Traditional Literature Review
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Step 5: Writing the review
The way a review article is written varies depending on the audience, discipline and type of review. There are guides available to assist with this process. Two of the best known are:
- Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
- Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Manual for Evidence Synthesis
JBI 'endorses the reporting guidelines in the PRISMA statement' and provides protocol and review templates to guide reporting.
These guides relate to systematic reviews written to the specific Cochrane or JBI style. These review styles are typically considered to be of a higher standard than systematic reviews written for other sources.
Reporting guides
Other well-known guides for writing reviews are outlined below.
- PRISMA 2020 Flow Diagram generator - Use this generator to create a completed PRISMA flow diagram for your systematic review
- PRISMA 2020 Flow Diagram – Provides a graphical representation of the flow of citations reviewed during a systematic review with templates to use as guides in designing your own diagram to map the flow of information through the stages of your systematic review.
- PRISMA checklist - PRISMA 2020 - 27-item checklist addressing the introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections of a systematic review report (PDF or DOC)
- York University Centre for Reviews and Dissemination Guidance for Undertaking Systematic Reviews in Health Care (PDF or HTML)
- EQUATOR network (enhancing the quality and transparency of health research reporting) - Provides guidelines relevant to different disciplines.
- Lang TA, Altman DG. Basic statistical reporting for articles published in biomedical journals: the "Statistical Analyses and Methods in the Published Literature" or the SAMPL Guidelines. Int J Nurs Stud. 2015;52(1):5-9. - Provides a set of statistical reporting guidelines suitable for medical journals.
- Bossuyt PM, Reitsma JB, Bruns DE, Gatsonis CA, Glasziou PP, Irwig L, LijmerJG Moher D, Rennie D, de Vet HCW, Kressel HY, Rifai N, Golub RM, Altman DG, Hooft L, Korevaar DA, Cohen JF, For the STARD Group. STARD 2015: An Updated List of Essential Items for Reporting Diagnostic Accuracy Studies - Provides checklist items and a flow diagram which describes study designs and patient flow.
- TREND - Guides the standardised reporting of non-randomized controlled trials. Complements the widely adopted CONSORT statement for randomized controlled trials.
Further Readings
- The "How to read a paper" series from The BMJ is useful for understanding specific research designs and interpreting papers that report on the outcome of these methods of research.
- Rethlefsen, M.L., Kirtley, S., Waffenschmidt, S. et al. PRISMA-S: an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews. Syst Rev 10, 39 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z
The Review Process
The titles below offer advice on the entire review process, including writing the review.
Doing a Systematic ReviewPublication Date: 2013This book provides a roadmap to guide you through the systematic review process. Throughout the book, the authors make extensive use of questions posed by real students when carrying out reviews to help you through some of the challenges you may face.
Systematic Reviews to Support Evidence-Based MedicinePublication Date: 2011This book explains the key steps involved in reviewing literature, directing its deliberations at a readership of nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, public health personnel, new reviewers and students of epidemiology and health technology assessment.
Synthesizing descriptive evidencePublication Date: 2012This book contains step-by-step detailed discussions and practical processes for assessing, pooling, disseminating, and using the best available international evidence for healthcare decision-making and for translating evidence in action in both policy and practice.
Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature ReviewPublication Date: 2016Showing you how to take a structured and organized approach to a wide range of literature review types, this book helps you to choose which approach is right for your research. Packed with constructive tools, examples, case studies and hands-on exercises, the book covers the full range of literature review techniques.
Note
Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students can consult Deakin University's Academic Skills Support group for support with writing.
Publishing a review
Your audience and publication priorities are an important part of developing a publication strategy for your review. Visit the Library’s publication strategy guide: Your publishing plan, for detail on this step. The guide includes sections on:
- Developing a publishing plan
- Evaluate quality
- Consider open access options
- Manage your digital identity
- Communicate your research
- Tools and resources
Always follow author guidelines when submitting manuscripts.
Journal guidelines for reviews
Journals usually offer guidance to authors on how to prepare their paper to best fit the requirements of the journal. This sometimes includes guidelines on the preparation and presentation of review articles.
When selecting a journal to submit your review, look for these author guidelines. If you can't find any, contact the journal for advice.
Here are some examples where journals have specific instructions for review articles:
- Journal of Clinical Nursing
- Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (PDF)
- Journal of Pediatric Psychology
- Medical Journal of Australia