Skip to Main Content

Treadwell's Service for Systematic, Scoping and Other Reviews

Resources for conducting review projects

Treadwell's review service status

We are currently accepting requests for review projects for co-authorship or acknowledgment credit. Fill out our intake form to get started and a librarian will be in contact.

Please note that the systematic review librarian will be out of the office from 4/22-4/26 and returning on 4/29. Requests will be reviewed upon their return. 

What services does Treadwell offer?

Treadwell offers two service levels for comprehensive reviews (including but not limited to: scoping, systematic, rapid and integrative reviews and meta-analyses). The level names reflect the credit the librarian will receive for their participation in the project.

Acknowledgement Level

We complete part of the literature search.

  • Hour-long consultation meeting
  • Create a search for one of the required databases (Medline)
  • Suggest databases for extending search and project management tools

Co-authorship Level

We perform the entire literature search.

  • All acknowledgment level services
  • Fill out sections in the protocol relating to the search
  • Create searches for all required databases
  • Deduplicate and upload results into Covidence 
  • Create PRISMA-compliant methods section and appendix
  • Review manuscript and draft responses to peer reviewers or editors 

I'd like a librarian to review my search

Peer reviewing a Medline search will amount to acknowledgment credit. Rather than editing your search directly, we'll offer feedback similar to grading a paper. For databases in addition to or other than Medline, we will recommend our co-authorship level.

I'd like to be taught how to complete a review search

Since individualized teaching for review searching can't be realistically done, the library instead has a self-paced module on how to design and execute a literature search for any review. The course is available for enrollment below. You'll need to sign in using your MGB username and password:

Review service policies

  • First author or project lead must be a full-time MGH employee.
  • The service will not be available if maximum capacity has been reached.
  • The librarian retains the right to change tiers to accurately reflect the work being conducted, as well as refuse co-authorship.
  • If you request more than one project, they will be worked on sequentially. 
  • Out of consideration for the other teams waiting for our help, if we do not receive timely responses from your team, your project may be placed on temporary hold.

Resources to utilize if the service is at capacity

If we've reached maximum capacity with projects, you can learn how to execute the search yourself, using our course:

Or you might be able to leverage a librarian at a different institution if someone on your team has another affiliation. Finally, you could hire a contract librarian if you have the funds available. Listed below are ways to find an independent contract worker to perform the literature search: