7: What should reviews look like?

Most reviews follow a standard structure with four main sections:

• Background or Introduction
• Methods
• Findings
• Discussion and Conclusion

We will look at each of these in turn.

Background or Introduction

The background provides a brief background on the topic of the review, including any important details to explain why the review is needed.

• Refer to existing reviews on the topic, if available, and explain what a new review will add.
• Include the research question or objectives, as this is an explicit statement on what the review aimed to do.

Methods

The methods section, which is what makes a review a systematic review, is vital for rigour and validity of a review and must be well described.

• Include descriptions of the search strategy, the process used for selecting studies for the review, and the process used for critically appraising included studies.
• Describe the data that are intended to be extracted from each study and how these will be analysed – for example, a narrative summary of key characteristics and synthesis of findings from all studies that address research question.
• Include any post hoc changes – that is, anything different from the intended approach described in the protocol.

Key aspects of the methods section are described in Section 8: Methods.

Findings

The findings or results section of a review should include narrative summaries (e.g. key aspects of study design, study participants, intervention/exposures, outcomes measured and results/findings).

• Summarise the key characteristics from each study in a table or grid, including an assessment of the study quality. See Section 9: Data extraction for examples.
• Compare studies and look for similarities, differences, gaps or inconsistencies. See Section 10: Interpreting the findings for examples.
• Synthesise findings from the included studies that relate to the review’s question or objectives.

Summaries of meta-analyses are outside the scope of this book. When included in a review, these would be found in the findings or results sections.

Discussion and Conclusion

The discussion section reports the answer to your research question or research objectives. Alternatively, responses can be reported under findings; both approaches are used.

• If you are unable to report an answer, clearly state this.
• Provide an analysis of the strengths and limitations of the review.
• Summarise any identified gaps that may need to be addressed in future studies.
• Recommend actions for future research, including methodological issues.