Systematic and complex literature reviews

Has the research already been done?

Finding out whether the research has already been done, or is underway, is crucial as it can save time and resources in repeating the same research.

Search the literature to see if the research has already been undertaken and published:

• Search subject specific databases (eg ERIC, Education Research Complete, PubMed etc)
• Search multidisciplinary databases (eg Scopus, Web of Science)
• Search resources-specific databases (eg ProQuest Dissertations and Theses) 

Search to see if there are registered reviews and protocols. Here are some of the places to search for protocols: 

In some cases, the protocol might not be formally registered but is made available open access via data repositories such as Figshare. An example of a Scoping Review protocol is linked below.

Finding examples of published reviews

UniSQ RISE Repository

For articles by USQ authors, go to the UniSQ RISE Repository.

Select the “Advanced search” tile. In the title field text box, type "systematic literature review", "systematic review", or "scoping review". Browse through the results and see how they have incorporated the search strategy process into their article. Some may use the PRISMA workflow diagram.

Databases

You can search in databases such as Scopus and PubMed for published reviews by external authors and UniSQ authors. Use the article title field to search for specific types of reviews. You can also limit your search to specific journal titles if desired. Follow the link below to the Library database page to select a database to search.