Systematic Reviews with PRISMA 2020

A systematic review is judged on transparency and reproducibility: another team should be able to rerun your searches and reach the same included set. Work in the phases below and keep an audit trail (dates, counts, decisions) as you go. Retrofitting a trail at the end is how reviews fail peer review.

Phase 1: Protocol (before searching)

1. Frame the question with PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome); use PECO for exposures, SPIDER for qualitative work, PCC for scoping reviews.
2. Pre-specify eligibility criteria, primary/secondary outcomes, databases, date limits, languages, risk-of-bias tool and synthesis method.
3. Register the protocol before screening starts: PROSPERO (health, human outcomes) or OSF Registries (everything else). Record the registration ID for the manuscript.
4. Use the PRISMA-P checklist to write the protocol. Scoping reviews follow PRISMA-ScR.

Phase 2: Search