We provide training in literature searching generally, and planning a systematic review in particular, but here are some additional links and resources you may find useful. If you want help from the library in conducting searches for your systematic review (whether we do the searching for you, or help you conduct your own searches), please fill in our systematic review search request form.

In 2017, we put together a systematic reviews advent calendar. Each day, new resources were revealed. Click on each image to find out more about the various resources.

Cochrane Handbook  for Systematic Reviews of Interventions  
the official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.

InterTASC Information Specialists’ Sub-Group Search Filter Resource
a collaborative venture to identify, assess and test search filters designed to retrieve research by study design or focus. The Search Filters Resource aims to provide easy access to published and unpublished search filters.

PubMed PubReMiner
a tool to help build your search by showing you the most commonly used freetext and MeSH terms used in articles about your topic

Visualizing PubMed
provides various formats of data visualisation of the results you find in PubMed

Scite
, a Chrome extension which will automatically find papers that cite the paper you have searched for in Google.

PRISMA 
an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions.

PROSPERO – International prospective register of systematic reviews
an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record.

Systematic Review Accelerator
Free software to help with deduplication, developing a search strategy, converting searches from one database to another, and screening references in Endnote.

Systematic Review Toolbox 
a community-driven, searchable, web-based catalogue of tools that support the systematic review process across multiple domains. The resource aims to help reviewers find appropriate tools based on how they provide support for the systematic review process.

The University of Cambridge guide to text and data mining may also be useful.

Ben Goldacre’s TED Talk, ‘Battling Bad Science’, illustrates the pitfalls of relying solely on published research in systematic reviews.

CADTH Grey Matters tool for searching for grey literature

The following are good sources of grey literature:

Open Grey – A good source of reports, dissertations, and other grey literature.

NICE Local Practice Case Studies – A collection of over 500 working examples of quality improvement in health and social care services.

RightCare Casebooks – Commissioning for Value – Case studies covering different interventions from a variety of clinical commissioning groups.

Trials Register of Promoting Health Interventions (TRoPHI) – A searchable database containing details of over 7750 clinical trials, with a focus on public health.

World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) – A searchable registry of clinical trials all around the world.

UK Clinical Trials Gateway – A searchable database of non-commercial clinical trials.

ClinicalTrials.gov – A registry of clinical trials in the US.

Guides by other libraries on systematic reviews: 

Duke University; Oxford University; 

The resources on our critical appraisal page may also be useful.