Meta-analyses are a sub-set of systematic reviews - every meta-analysis starts with a systematic review, but not every systematic review includes a meta-analysis.
The full Systematic Review Service is currently available to all UT GSM faculty and residents. Consultations are available for UTMC nurses and the full service will be available for nurses on a case-by-case basis.
Service includes:
In general, a consultation will need to occur about six weeks before you plan to have your team screen abstracts. Search results can be delivered according to your preference, including as an EndNote library.
Contact the Preston Medical Library to set up a custom consultation for your systematic review research project.
Systematic reviews aren't the only type of knowledge synthesis out there. Right Review is a tool that can help you identify the right review type and methodology for your research based on your research question. You can access the tool here.
"Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies." (IOM, 2011) The Institute of Medicine and National Academies recommend utilizing an information professional (a librarian) as part of the literature review process. Furthermore, an article in JAMA details the reasons why a librarian needs to be a part of the systematic review research team. Librarians are uniquely qualified to search and retrieve articles not only from the major databases, but are also skilled in searching the "gray literature" for unpublished studies and data.