Skip to main content

Table 1 Defining characteristics of traditional literature reviews, scoping reviews and systematic reviews

From: Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach

 

Traditional Literature Reviews

Scoping reviews

Systematic reviews

A priori review protocol

No

Yes (some)

Yes

PROSPERO registration of the review protocol

No

Noa

Yes

Explicit, transparent, peer reviewed search strategy

No

Yes

Yes

Standardized data extraction forms

No

Yes

Yes

Mandatory Critical Appraisal (Risk of Bias Assessment)

No

Nob

Yes

Synthesis of findings from individual studies and the generation of ‘summary’ findingsc

No

No

Yes

  1. aCurrent situation; this may change in time. bCritical appraisal is not mandatory, however, reviewers may decide to assess and report the risk of bias in scoping reviews. cBy using statistical meta-analysis (for quantitative effectiveness, or prevalence or incidence, diagnostic accuracy, aetiology or risk, prognostic or psychometric data), or meta-synthesis (experiential or expert opinion data) or both in mixed methods reviews