An important step in your project is selecting an appropriate review methodology. The biggest distinction is whether your review is considered comprehensive or not.
Comprehensive reviews seek to find all available literature on a topic. Comprehensive reviews include but are not limited to systematic reviews, meta-analyses, rapid reviews, scoping reviews, umbrella reviews and integrative reviews. The literature search for these projects is exhaustive, follows specific standards, and is documented thoroughly.
This type of project also requires a protocol. It is recommended that you register your protocol in PROSPERO, an international systematic review protocol registry. The process of registration is straightforward and their guidance notes will tell you exactly what information to include.
A non-comprehensive review (typically a narrative review) seeks to find only some literature on a topic. It doesn't require a protocol and has a shorter time commitment.
Below are resources to guide you in choosing a review type:
Conducting Standards
Reporting Guidelines
The PRISMA Statement, Checklist and Flow Diagram are a set of standards that address what should be reported in a review. In addition, there are separate checklists for your protocol and abstract. Many journals expect authors to use the PRISMA statement, and some require you to submit a PRISMA checklist and flowchart with your manuscript.
Conducting Standards
Reporting Guidelines
Conducting Standards
Reporting Guidelines
Conducting Standards
Reporting Guidelines
Conducting Standards
The aim of this paper is to distinguish the integrative review method from other review methods and to propose methodological strategies specific to the integrative review method to enhance the rigour of the process. This paper is most often cited in the methods section of integrative reviews.
Reporting Guidelines
