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Health Research Literature: an Overview

A guide to types & hierarchy of medical research sources

Scoping reviews are designed to answer broad research questions while maintaining the same methodological rigor as a systematic review.

A Scoping review

  • explores the depth or extent of the literature on the topic of interest
  • maps & summarizes the evidence found
  • informs future research & identifies knowledge gaps

A Scoping Review does not

  • critically appraise the literature on the topic
  • inform clinical guideline, policy, or practice
  • examine literature for risk of bias
  • examine the validity of the research mapped

Source: Peters, M.D., Marnie, C., Tricco, A.C., Pollock, D., Munn, Z., Alexander, L., McInerney, P., Godfrey, C.M. and Khalil, H., (2020). 'Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews'. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 18(10), pp. 2119-2126.

Steps for preparing a Scoping Review Protocol & writing the Scoping review

Briefly outline the objective of the Scoping review you wish to conduct. 

Example: You have read some research on weight loss success among  indigenous patients who have had bariatric surgery but you notice that such research doesn't mention psychological or social changes experienced by these patients post-surgery, therefore:

Your research question might be: what type of evidence exists on the psychological & social changes experienced by indigenous people who undergo bariatric surgery to lose weight?

Your objective for the scoping review  should clearly indicate:

  • why the review is being conducted.
  • what specific aspect of the topic is being investigated
  • what the review will contribute to the existing knowledge of topic being examined.

To develop both the review title, the question (or questions) & find the evidence for your Scoping review, the PCC  framework (Population, Concept & Context) will help you.

Run a preliminary search using keywords  for each concept to gather a few studies that appear to address the objective. This initial search may help you further clarify your objectives & determine your inclusion & exclusion criteria. Note that searching is an iterative process & changes to your initial questions may be necessary due to number & nature of results found.

 

Scoping Review Framework (PCC) Possible Search terms
Participants:
 include age,  sex
& other qualifying criteria
relevant to objectives

 Adults who undergo

bariatric surgery for weight loss)

 Not always necessary.
Depends on subject of review.

Concept(s):

Interventions 

and/or
phenomena of interest,

and/or
outcomes  

 

Bariatric surgery 

 

 

Psychosocial

 

changes 

“bariatric surgery   OR obesity surgery 
OR gastric bypass  ... etc.

AND

psycosocial  OR psycholog* OR social
OR economic OR “quality of life”...etc.

AND

implications  OR consequence* OR aspect* OR
unintended effect* OR long term effect*
OR burden*  OR impact* .. etc.

Context:

include where applicable:
cultural, temporal,
geographic, setting 

cultural aspect

geography

Indigenous populations
AND

United States OR Greenland 
OR Canada etc....

 

A Scoping Review Protocol is intended as a planning document.  It should clearly outline the rationale, objectives, eligibility criteria & methods to be developed by the research team before starting the literature review.  Note that constructing a well-developed protocol serves two purposes:

1. It saves time as it can be integrated into the template used to the write up  the final Scoping review.
2.  It can also be submitted for publication.

 

Protocol steps include:

  • Introduction: describes what the review will investigate, how the review will fit into the existing literature & augment the topic of interest, and where you have looked to identify any previous work on the chosen topic
  • Scoping review question(s) : state the clear review questions that will facilitate the literature search & provide focus for the inclusion criteria
  • Brief  description of  Inclusion criteria: This review aims to cover the topic based on..
    • Participants: briefly describe specific population/type of participant if applicable
    • Concept(s): interventions,  phenomena of interest, outcomes
    • Context(s): geographical, cultural, temporal, setting
    • Types of sources to be used, in what languages: i.e., all available literature? Qualitative? Quantitative? Peer reviewed? English only? etc. Brief justifications for use or non-use of specific types.
  • Describe methods to be followed including : 
    • Search strategy: where you will search, what kind of studies or other research material you will include,
    • Study selection: how you will screen studies found for inclusion in the review
    • Data extraction/charting: how the data included will be extracted using a structured data format decided on by the team
  • Describe the method  to be used for summarizing each source to be  included in the Review & which aligns with the objectives and questions posed. The team should agree on  a pretested table which might include, for example:
  • study citation
    country
    study duration
    study design type
    study aim
    population...etc.
     This process demonstrates  transparency & clarity of methodology &  may also reveal other relevant data to be included. It is described in more detail in the final writing of the Scoping Review.
    • Data presentation: in what form will the extracted data be presented: i.e., descriptive, tabular, diagrammatic, etc.

The latest guidance from JBI recommends registering &/or publishing your protocol to promote transparency & avoid unnecessary duplication of research. 

Sites on which to consider registering your protocol include:
Figshare A free open access repository for sharing academic research outputs that allows users to upload files in any format.
Open Science Framework The Open Science Framework is a free, open source project management tool.

 

A scoping review protocol can be submitted for publication in:
Systematic Reviews (BMC journal)  publishes protocols of systematic reviews broadly related to health sciences.
JBI Evidence Synthesis seeks to provide best available evidence to inform policy & practice through the science & conduct of systematic &scoping reviews.

 

The final write up of the Scoping Review will be a detailed account of how all steps of your protocol were carried out by your team as described in the Prisma ScR Protocol. It is likely that some aspects of protocol will have changed as result of the research found; any changes should be accounted for  in the Scoping review.

As with systematic reviews, consult the Prisma 2020 Statement and related documents to ensure transparent reporting of the evidence gathered in your Scoping Review .