University Library: Evidence Synthesis Collaborative (ESC): How Librarians Can Help

For Level One Consultant, librarians will provide:

Provide background information and resources on evidence synthesis methods
Advise on the development of the review protocol
Advise on the keywords and search strategy
Recommend databases and grey literature sources
Recommend screening and citation management tools

As an advisor, your librarian can provide up to 10 hours of support throughout the project. (These hours may vary depending on the project). Librarians who collaborate on search strategy formation and/or citation management should be acknowledged in the final publication.

For Level Two Collaborator, the Librarian will provide:

Co-design the search strategy and translate it to different databases
Perform searches and export results to a citation manager and/or screening tool
Deduplicate results
Assist with full text article retrieval
Train the team on screening and citation management tools
Write the search portion of the methods section
Create the PRISMA flowchart (the research team and librarian work together to provide the relevant data for completion)
Provide documentation of the searches for publication

Evidence synthesis projects require a significant time commitment and input from a team of experts to produce high-quality results. FGCU librarians are ready, willing, and able to help as needed. Co-authorship is at the discretion of the librarian(s).

Breaking Down the Steps

Here’s a detailed chart of traditional systematic review steps and the librarian co-author’s possible contributions.

(Timing may vary, and some steps can overlap.)

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Steps in a Traditional Systematic Review or Evidence Synthesis Project	Estimated Time Investment	Potential Librarian Contribution as Co-Author
Assemble systematic review team and select project manager	Varies	Provide guidance
Identify appropriate review methodology	2 weeks	Provide guidance
Define research question	2 weeks	Provide information on appropriate question frameworks (e.g. PICO, PEO, etc.)
Define inclusion/exclusion criteria	1 week	Provide guidance
Select databases	1 week	Suggest appropriate databases
Select grey literature resources	1 week	Suggest grey literature resources
Write search strategy for “master” database	1 week	Lead writing of the search strategy
Write and register protocol (written compilation of previous steps)	Varies	Provide comments on protocol and guide protocol registration process
Translate search strategy to syntax of all databases (including grey literature)	2 weeks	Translate search strategy
Search and export results into citation management software	2 weeks	Perform searches and export results
De-duplicate results	2-4 weeks	Perform de-duplication, or train your team on the process
Title and abstract screening	2-3 months	Recommend article screening software and advise on use of software
Retrieve full-text articles	1 month	Train team of full-text article retrieval
Full-text screening	2-3 months	Provide guidance
Risk-of-bias assessment	2-3 months	Provide guidance
Data extraction	2-3 months	Provide guidance
Meta-analysis or synthesis of results	2-3 months	Provide guidance
Write the manuscript	2-3 months	Write information retrieval portion of the methods section

* Timeframe can vary significantly depending on number of citations identified for screening.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Evidence Synthesis Collaborative (ESC)

Breaking Down the Steps

Florida Gulf Coast University Library