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Mississippi State University

Library update: Recent database changes

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Systematic Reviews

This guide provides tips and strategies for conducting a systematic literature review.

Watch for Retractions and Errata!

"Some studies may have been found to be fraudulent or may have been retracted since publication for other reasons. Errata can reveal important limitations, or even fatal flaws, in included studies. All of these may lead to the potential exclusion of a study from a review or meta-analysis. Care should be taken to ensure that this information is retrieved in all database searches by downloading the appropriate fields, together with the citation data." (Cochrane Handbook, version 6.4, section 4.4.6.)

Rayyan

Rayyan is a systematic review tool that simplifies the screening of articles. There is a free version, but many features are only available with the subscription version. Note that features currently available with the free version may become unavailable at anytime. As with all third-party apps in this guide, mention of this product does not constitute endorsement by the guide authors, MSU Libraries, or MSU.

To learn more, view the following video directly in YouTube. This will let you see other videos in the Rayyan training playlist.

Covidence

Covidence is a fee-based program that is widely used for systematic reviews and other types of evidence syntheses. Before paying for access to Covidence, you should first try the free trial. As with all third-party apps in this guide, mention of this product does not constitute endorsement by the guide authors, MSU Libraries, or MSU.

For more videos, visit Covidence playlists on YouTube.

Subjects: Research Skills