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Systematic and systematic-like review toolkit

Toolkit of resources to support researchers in the development of systematic and systematic-like reviews

Step 5: Writing the review

Systematic ReviewIntegrative ReviewRapid ReviewScoping ReviewNarrative 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:

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)

Further Readings



The Review Process

The titles below offer advice on the entire review process, including writing the review.


 

Note

Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students can consult Deakin University's Academic Skills Support group for support with writing.


Publishing a review

Systematic ReviewIntegrative ReviewRapid ReviewScoping ReviewNarrative 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:

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: