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JBI SUMARI

JBI SUMARI is a web-based software platform that facilitates the entire systematic review process from protocol to report.

Before You Start Writing Your Protocol

What is a Protocol?

A protocol is a detailed work plan that describes why and how you are doing a systematic review. It includes your rationale and objectives, how you will search for literature, and how you will screen and synthesize what you find. It is best practice to develop a protocol and make it publicly available before starting a systematic review.

Why Do I Need a Protocol?

It is best practice to develop a protocol and make it publicly available before starting a systematic review. There are several reasons to write a review protocol:

  • Your protocol will help your team navigate the systematic review process. It will help your team be more consistent when screening and extracting data.
  • It will also show how your completed systematic review might differ from your protocol. This can help them understand whether there is any bias in your review results and conclusions.
  • It may be required by a journal for your review to be published. A protocol cannot be written after the review is completed.

Covidence Webinar

A review protocol generally includes the following:

  • Authors/team members
  • Rationale and objectives of review
  • Eligibility criteria for inclusion and exclusion/li>
  • What information sources will be searched
  • A full search strategy for at least one database
  • Process and tools for study selection (screening), quality assessment, and data extraction
  • Data management
  • Data items that will be extracted
  • How the data will be analyzed and synthesized

Follow the PRISMA-P Checklist for the best protocol reporting methods.

A solid research question is critical, as a poor question risks confounding the review. This question also forms the basis for inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Question frameworks help review teams structure their questions. Select the question framework based on the type of review:

  • PICO (population, intervention, comparison, outcome) is most common for effectiveness reviews
  • PCC (population, concept, and context) for scoping reviews
  • PICo (Population, intervention or phenomena of interest, context) for qualitative reviews
  • CoCoPop (condition, context, population)for prevalence and incidence reviews
  • PEO (population, exposure, outcome) for etiology and risk reviews

It's important to make sure that your proposed research question is unique or improves upon existing research. In addition to doing a literature search, check to see if any protocols have been registered.

Creating Your Protocol in JBI SUMARI

Video Demonstration

Places to Register Your Protocol