Are you planning a systematic review?

25th September 2022

Did you know that it is highly recommended that you register your systematic review protocol?

PRISMA advises that “Systematic reviews should be registered at inception (i.e. at the protocol stage) to help avoid unplanned duplication and to enable comparison of reported review methods with what was planned in the protocol (PRISMA, 2021)”.

What is PROSPERO?

PROSPERO accepts registrations for systematic reviews, rapid reviews and umbrella reviews.

It is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record.

PROSPERO is produced by CRD and funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

Requirements for registration:

  • A full protocol should be ready before registering with PROSPERO
  • Submissions must be made before data extraction commences (from October 2019)
  • Registration forms must be complete.
  • Submissions must be in English (search strategies and protocols attached to a record may be in any language).

Do you have an idea for a systematic review?

You could search PROSPERO to see if a similar systematic review has been done before and see what reviews are currently in progress.

See more information on PROSPERO here.  Or contact us for further help. 

Bibliography

PRISMA. (2021). Protocols registration. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from PRISMA: PRISMA. (2021). Protocols registration. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from PRISMA: http://prisma-statement.org/Protocols/Registration#:~:text=Systematic%20reviews%20should%20be%20registered,was%20planned%20in%20the%20protocol.