SJSU Research Guides: Evidence Synthesis & Systematic Review Program @ SJSU: Write the Review

Writing the Review & Reporting Guidelines

Now that you've finished collecting and analyzing the data, it's time to write and disseminate the results via a publication or presentation. All evidence synthesis projects should follow the appropriate reporting guidelines, if one exists. The primary reporting guideline used today is PRISMA, or the "Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses."

Important distinction: reporting guidelines do not teach you how to do evidence synthesis! Instead, they tell authors what to report, where and how to report it, and why reporting that item is recommended. Therefore, manuscripts should never say "This study was performed according to the PRISMA Guidelines." Better wording might be "The results of this review are being reported according to the PRISMA 2020 Guidelines."

Selected Reporting Guidelines

PRISMA 2020
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is the gold-standard reporting guideline for systematic reviews. There are also PRISMA extensions for other methodologies (e.g. scoping reviews and network meta-analyses) and purposes (e.g. protocols and conference abstracts).
PRISMA 2020 for Abstracts
The 12-item checklist gives authors a framework for condensing their systematic review into the essentials for a journal or conference abstract that will meet the needs of many readers.
PRISMA for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR)
The checklist contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items to include when completing a scoping review.

For more reporting guidelines, refer to the following resources:

PRISMA Extensions
Equator Network Library
The EQUATOR Network (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Library is a searchable database of reporting guidelines by publication type.