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Systematic Reviews: Collaborate with a Librarian

UTHSC Systematic Review Service Announcement

Advanced Systematic Review Services are currently on pause through Spring 2025

Due to capacity, UTHSC librarians will not be offering Advanced tier (collaborative) Systematic Review Services for new systematic reviews starting in Fall 2024. This pause is expected to continue through Spring 2025. This page will be updated should circumstances change. 

  • All current Advanced Service projects will be completed in consultation with project teams.
  • Basic systematic review services (consultations) continue.
  • Questions? Email: library@uthsc.edu

Roles of Librarians in Systematic Reviews

Studies show that librarian involvement in systematic reviews improves the quality and reproducibility of the literature search (Rethlefsen et al., 2015).  

  • It is recommended that you ask for librarian involvement early on in the process. 
  • Developing and running search strategies may take a month or longer. 
  • There may be a waitlist for librarian assistance.
  • Please contact us well in advance of any deadlines so that we may coordinate librarian workloads.

Services Provided

Basic Service

  • Provide consultation on SR process and guidelines
  • Meet 2-3 times to discuss the process
  • Give advice on identifying controlled vocabulary and keywords
  • Advise on databases and keywords
  • Suggest tools and resources

Advanced Service (currently unavailable)

  • Join Review Team in membership capacity, including librarian participation at project meetings
  • Identify, conduct, and document the search methodology in accordance with established guidelines
  • Provide significant contributions to methods section of the final systematic review manuscript
  • Suggest tools and resources for each stage of the SR and train review team in use as necessary
  • Co-authorship for librarians required

Page References

Rethlefsen ML, Farrell AM, Osterhaus Trzasko LC, Brigham TJ. Librarian co-authors correlated with higher quality reported search strategies in general internal medicine systematic reviews. J Clin Epidemiol. 2015;68(6):617-626. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2014.11.025

Acknowledgement: This guide design was adapted from UK Medical Center Library LibGuide CSS Template and Documentation © 2024 by Lauren E. Robinson is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/X5YFA