timsmykov Systematic Review
Create an auditable review process, not merely a fluent synthesis. Keep the protocol, search strings, source coverage, exported records, deduplication keys, screening decisions, exclusions, and amendments as separate artefacts.
Procedure
- Define the review question, eligibility criteria, date and language boundaries, sources, and planned synthesis.
- Obtain researcher approval of the protocol before screening. Record later amendments instead of silently changing criteria.
- Run documented searches and retain exact query, source, time, result count, and inaccessible sources.
- Normalize records and run
scripts/deduplicate_records.py; preserve duplicate-to-canonical mappings. - Screen with stable record IDs and explicit reasons. Keep uncertain records for human resolution.
- Report flow counts and coverage. Never infer that an unavailable database was searched.
Boundaries
This draft workflow does not certify PRISMA compliance, clinical validity, meta-analysis correctness, or protocol registration. Those claims require the applicable current standard and accountable expert review.