yopwuyi
★★★★★
“It bridges the terrifying gap between Cochrane’s rules and actually submitting to PROSPERO. The fill-in templates for search translations and RoB 2 saved me weeks of panic.”
Read on Amazon →Home › Shop › Reviewing the literature › The Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol Workbook
For students, clinicians and librarians planning a systematic review
From "I need to do a systematic review" to a protocol you can register.
The Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol Workbook
Cochrane gives you the methods and PRISMA gives you the reporting checklist. Nobody gives you the planning tools to do the work. This workbook does: 60 fill-in templates from the review question to GRADE.
- PICO, PEO and SPIDER question builders
- Search strategy matrices and a Boolean logic builder
- A PROSPERO drafting template and GRADE worksheets
By Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, MD, PhD · 156 pages · PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S aligned · Paperback $31.99 · ★★★★★ 5 reader reviews
What readers say
Reader reviews
★★★★★ 5 reader reviews from Amazon
Anu
★★★★★
“The templates are self explanatory and detailed to the point using standard methodologies - PICO, SPIDER, PRISMA S checklist, PROSPERO, CASP etc.”
Read on Amazon →Lex
★★★★★
“It gives you ways you can do and worksheets where you can fill out all the information that you will need for that protocol.”
Read on Amazon →Ultimusprime
★★★★★
“By providing fill-in-the-blank templates and a clear roadmap from concept to protocol, it bridges the gap between methodology and execution, making it essential for graduate students and researchers alike.”
Read on Amazon →Kristina
★★★★★
“Good workbook. Has fill in the bkank templates.”
Read on Amazon →Sound familiar?
Where systematic reviews lose weeks
“I'm stitching together templates from five different websites.”
“I can't get my search string to translate across databases.”
“I don't know which risk-of-bias tool fits my studies.”
“A reviewer said my protocol was inconsistent, and I can't see where.”
A systematic review is only as good as its protocol. When every decision, from the question to the certainty of evidence, is planned on one structured page, the review is consistent, reproducible and much faster to run.
How it works
Question. Search. Appraise. Grade.
The structure of a protocol, one decision per template.
Step 1
Frame and search
Build the question with PICO, PEO or SPIDER, then a documented, reproducible search across databases.
Step 2
Screen and appraise
Screening decisions logged, and risk of bias assessed with the right tool for each design.
Step 3
Extract and grade
Extract the data, and rate the certainty of evidence with GRADE.
What you will have
What you will build
- A review question framed with PICO, PEO or SPIDER
- A search strategy with concept maps, Boolean logic and translation grids for PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC and Scopus
- PRISMA 2020 flow and PRISMA-S search documentation
- A section-by-section PROSPERO registration draft
- Screening logs, and appraisal with RoB 2, ROBINS-I, CASP or JBI
- Data extraction forms for study characteristics, participants and outcomes
- A GRADE evidence profile and summary of findings
Look inside
Every template comes with a worked example
Each template names the PRISMA item it serves, and one review is worked through the whole book. These are real pages. Tap to enlarge.
Is it for you?
Built for evidence synthesis
It is for you if
- You are a graduate student doing a systematic review or meta-analysis
- You are a clinical or health researcher, or a member of a review team
- You are a librarian supporting search strategy and documentation
It is not
- A statistics manual for meta-analysis software
- A replacement for the Cochrane Handbook or the PRISMA statement
- Only for medicine. The methods apply across health, education and the social sciences.
Dr. Rafiq Muhammad, MD, PhD
Clinician-researcher, PhD from Karolinska Institutet, and author of the Mastering Research books and workbooks, used by graduate students from the research question to the viva.
Choose your format
Ways to get it
Paperback
$31.99 on Amazon
- The same 156 pages in print
- Write in it by hand
- Shipped by Amazon
Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis Protocol Kit
$19 instant download
- Every fill-in template, as a fillable PDF
- Type, save and print; US Letter and A4
Not ready to buy? Get the free toolkit for reviewing the literature by email and start today. Get it free
Questions
Before you buy
I'm doing a scoping review, not a systematic review.
The question and search tools apply to both. If you are charting what exists rather than pooling results, use the question, search and screening templates and skip the meta-analysis sections.
Does it help me register on PROSPERO?
Yes. There is a section-by-section drafting template aligned with PROSPERO's submission fields.
Which risk-of-bias tools does it cover?
RoB 2 for randomised trials, ROBINS-I for non-randomised studies, and CASP and JBI checklists, with a guide to choosing between them.
Which databases does the search section cover?
PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ERIC and Scopus, with translation grids for moving a search between them.
Plan the review before you run it
A consistent protocol, a reproducible search, and evidence you can grade.
Choose your formatMore for this stage: everything for reviewing the literature · the free toolkits