The ABC of systematic literature review: the basic methodological guidance for beginners

• Published in: Quality & quantity Vol. 55; no. 4; pp. 1319 - 1346
• Main Authors: Mohamed Shaffril, Hayrol Azril, Samsuddin, Samsul Farid, Abu Samah, Asnarulkhadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-08-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Extraction; Literature reviews; Methodological approaches; Methodology of the Social Sciences; Quality; Research methodology; Social Sciences; Suitability; Systematic review; Validity; Beginners; Non-health related studies; Basic methodology; Systematic literature review
• ISSN: 0033-5177; 1573-7845
• DOI: 10.1007/s11135-020-01059-6

There is a need for more methodological-based articles on systematic literature review (SLR) for non-health researchers to address issues related to the lack of methodological references in SLR and less suitability of existing methodological guidance. With that, this study presented a beginner's guide to basic methodological guides and key points to perform SLR, especially for those from non-health related background. For that, a total of 75 articles that passed the minimum quality were retrieved using systematic searching strategies. Seven main points of SLR were discussed, namely (1) the development and validation of the review protocol/publication standard/reporting standard/guidelines, (2) the formulation of research questions, (3) systematic searching strategies, (4) quality appraisal, (5) data extraction, (6) data synthesis, and (7) data demonstration.