Subject and Research Guides: Systematic Reviews: Non-Health Systematic Reviews

Conducting Systematic Reviews on non-Health Topics. Lecture by Dr Catalin Tufanaru (AIHI)

Non-Health Systematic Reviews - Forming a Question

Research Question Types
Further Reading on Forming Research Questions

PECO (Environmental Science)
- Population, Exposure, Comparator, Outcomes
PCS (Computer Science)
- Problem, Constraints, Systems
CIMO (Business & Management)
- Context, Intervention, Mechanisms, Outcomes
ECLIPSE (Health Policy & Management)
- Expectation, Client group, Location, Impact, Professionals, SErvice
TABLE OF RESEARCH QUESTION TYPES FOR NON-HEALTH SRs

Non-Health Systematic Reviews - Guidelines and Standards

Publications on systematic review / evidence synthesis methodology - EPPI-Centre

Guidelines for performing systematic reviews in the development of toxicity factors This link opens in a new window

PRISMA for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses in ecology and evolutionary biology: a PRISMA extension This link opens in a new window The PRISMA-EcoEvo extension was published in 2021. The main text provides a 27-item checklist and guidance for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of primary research in ecology and evolutionary biology. The Supporting Information provides results of surveys to assess perceptions and standards of reporting quality of systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in ecology and evolutionary biology, and examples of each reporting item from a published paper in the field.

Recommended Databases

PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Produced by the American Psychological Association, the database provides citations and abstracts to over 2000 journals in 35 languages, to book chapters and books in the English language, plus dissertations and technical reports, in psychology and related disciplines. Coverage extends from 1806. Some full text is available, mainly by linking to subscribed journals.
Produced by the American Psychological Association, the database provides citations and abstracts to over 2000 journals in 35 languages, to book chapters and books in the English language, plus dissertations and technical reports, in psychology and related disciplines. Coverage extends from 1806. Some full text is available, mainly by linking to subscribed journals.
Psychology and behavioral sciences collection This link opens in a new window
A searchable database with nearly 550 full text titles, covering topics such as emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry & psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods. All the full text titles are indexed in PsycINFO. The material in this collection is also accessible by searching the multisubject Academic search premier.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
CINAHL Complete is the world's most comprehensive source of full-text for nursing & allied health journals, providing full text for more than 1,300 journals indexed in CINAHL (Cumulative index to nursing and allied health literature complete)

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Psychology. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review. The can be accessed here.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window
Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Available on the ProQuest platform, Social services abstracts presents abstracts and indexes of current research focused on social work, human services, and related disciplines, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Over 1300 publications are indexed, and abstracts of journal articles, books, dissertations, and citations to book reviews are included. Coverage extends from 1980. Some full text is available through linking to subscribed journals.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in the Social Sciences. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
Business Source Premier contains nearly 1,200 active full-text journals and magazines and 700 active full-text peer-reviewed journals. In addition, the database includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses. The database also includes country economic reports from leading entities and detailed company profiles for the 5000 largest companies worldwide. Business Source Premier also provides access to key management and marketing journals, such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Finance and Journal of Marketing.

Emerald Management
The Emerald business, management and economics collection collection covers a number of topics including accounting, finance & economics, business, management & strategy, HR, learning & organisation studies,marketing, public policy & environmental management, and tourism & hospital management.

EconLit This link opens in a new window
EconLit provides bibliographic information to a wide-range of economic-related literature, covering both theory and application. An expanded version of the Journal of Economic Literature (JEL), it indexes and abstracts scholarly journals, books and dissertations. In addition, it includes full-text book reviews published in JEL and 40,000 working papers in economics.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Business. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

ACM Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Association for Computing Machinery journals, magazines, transactions and conference proceedings.
Inspec (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts to scientific and technical literature in electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers, computing and IT.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Computer Science. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

BIOSIS Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
BIOSIS citation index combines Biosis Previews with Citation Information and is a reference database for life science research. It includes cited references to primary journal literature on biological research, medical research findings, and discoveries of new organisms.
Biological Sciences (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Find abstracts & citations to research areas in aquatic sciences, biomedicine, biotechnology, zoology & ecology, and some aspects of agriculture & veterinary science.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Is a database that contains the full text of more than 1,800 Elsevier Science journals, as well as citations and abstracts of other journals. Over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals are indexed. Subject coverage emphasizes the life, medical, technical, and physical sciences, but there is also coverage of the arts, humanities, social sciences and psychology. Coverage is selective full-text.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Biological Science. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

BIOSIS Citation Index (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
BIOSIS citation index combines Biosis Previews with Citation Information and is a reference database for life science research. It includes cited references to primary journal literature on biological research, medical research findings, and discoveries of new organisms.
Ecology abstracts This link opens in a new window
Part of the Biological sciences and Environmental sciences and pollution management clusters on the ProQuest platform, this online searchable version of the print abstracts covers aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems as well as human ecology. This is mainly a citation and abstracts database, with some linking to full text. Coverage extends from 1982.
GEOBASE This link opens in a new window
This database indexes journals, books, conference proceedings and reports in the earth sciences, including geology, human and physical geography, environmental sciences, oceanography, geomechanics, alternative energy sources, pollution, waste management and nature conservation. It includes citations and abstracts published in several print abstracting journals: Geographical abstracts : Human geography; Geographical abstracts : Physical geography; International development abstracts; the Geological abstracts series (Geophysics and tectonics, Economic geology, Palaeontology and stratigraphy, Sedimentary geology); Mineralogical abstracts; and Ecological abstracts. Database coverage extends from 1980.
Pollution abstracts This link opens in a new window
Part of the Environmental sciences and pollution management cluster on the ProQuest platform, this online searchable version of the print abstracts covers air, marine and freshwater pollution, sewage and wastewater treatment, waste management, land pollution, toxicology and health, noise, radiation, environmental action. This is mainly a citation and abstracts database, with some linking to full text. Coverage extends from 1981.
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
Is a database that contains the full text of more than 1,800 Elsevier Science journals, as well as citations and abstracts of other journals. Over 2,000 peer-reviewed journals are indexed. Subject coverage emphasizes the life, medical, technical, and physical sciences, but there is also coverage of the arts, humanities, social sciences and psychology. Coverage is selective full-text.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Environmental Science. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

ERIC This link opens in a new window
Available on the ProQuest platform, the ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, provides citations and abstracts access to educational-related literature. The ERIC database corresponds to two printed journals: Resources in Education (RIE) and Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE). Both journals provide access to some 14,000 documents and over 20,000 journal articles per year. In addition, ERIC provides coverage of conferences, meetings, government documents, theses, dissertations, reports, audiovisual media, bibliographies, directories, and monographs. Coverage extends from 1966. Some full text is available through linking to subscribed material.
A+ Education This link opens in a new window
Based on the Australian Education Index, this indexing and full text database provides access to the scanned images of journal articles from published material on all aspects of Australian education. Journal titles indexed include: Focus on Health Professional Education; Higher Education Research and Development; MJA, ANZ Journal of Surgery; Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A searchable multisubject database which contains full text for over 4,450 scholarly publications including more than 3,500 peer-reviewed journals. Almost all academic areas of study are covered with some coverage extending back to 1975.
AEI : Australian Education Index This link opens in a new window
Produced by the Cunningham Library at the Australian Council for Educational Research, this database indexes and abstracts documents from printed and electronic sources for all levels of education and related fields. Source documents include journal articles, monographs, research reports, theses, conference papers, legislation, parliamentary debates, newspaper articles, tests and web. Articles and reports by Australian authors or about Australian education published in overseas sources are also included. Coverage extends from 1978.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Education. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

IEEE Xplore Digital Library This link opens in a new window
This database from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers provides full-text access to IEEE transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings published since 1988, plus select content back to 1950, and all current IEEE standards. In addition, access is available to IEEE journals and conference proceedings.
Inspec (Web of Science) This link opens in a new window
Citations and abstracts to scientific and technical literature in electrical engineering, electronics, communications, control engineering, computers, computing and IT.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in Engineering. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.

SciFinder-n This link opens in a new window
SciFinder provides indexing and abstracts access to journals, books, conferences, patents, dissertations and technical reports in all areas of chemistry, biomedicine, and many other scientific areas. It allows searching by author name, research topic, company (or institution) and by chemical substance, reaction and structure.
ProQuest SciTech This link opens in a new window
Full text articles on natural sciences, engineering and technology. Includes materials science, aerospace engineering, computer science, environmental science and more.
MathSciNet : mathematical reviews on the web This link opens in a new window
MathSciNet is a citation and abstracts database covering the world's mathematical literature (journals, conference proceedings, books) since 1940. It provides Web access to the bibliographic data and reviews of mathematical research literature contained in the Mathematical Reviews Database and includes the information contained in the print publications Mathematical reviews, Current mathematical publications and Contents of contemporary mathematical journals. Links are provided to full text original articles and other original documents, when available.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Scopus is a multidisciplinary abstract and citation database. It covers a large number of peer-reviewed journals in the scientific, technical, medical and social science fields, from an extensive range of international publishers. Also indexed are open access journals, conference proceedings, book series and trade publications, as well as patent records. References go back to 1996, while abstracts go back further. Linking to full-text articles is available.

This is a list of suggested databases to be searched for systematic reviews in STEM disciplines. Additional databases may be required depending on the topic of your review.