Systematic Reviews Service

Software

PIECES a spreadsheet designed to help you document and record methods of the review for reporting, especially useful for PRISMA flowchart. 

Overall systematic review software

• colandr: Free software; especially helpful in sorting citations
• EPPI-Reviewer: fee
• RevMan: from Cochrane Collaboration, free for academic use, but support is only for registered Cochrane authors
• SRDR (AHRQ): Systematic Review Database Repository from Agency of Healthcare Research & Quality

Meta analysis

• MetaLight: EPPI Centre, free
• CMA (Comprehensive meta analysis): description
• MAStARI (Meta Analysis of Statistics Assessment and Review Instrument): Joanna Briggs Institute
• Mix 2.0: Excel add on for meta analysis
• EROS software: cost involved
• Work learning research effect size calculator
• Practical meta analysis effect size calculator (Campbell Collaboration)

Qualitative software

• ATLAS
• Ethnograph
• HyperRESEARCH
• Joanna Briggs Institute
  • NOTARI (Narrative, Opinion, and Text Assessment and Review Instrument)
  • QARI (qualitative assessment and review instrument)
• Nvivo

Critical Appraisal Checklists

Guide to selecting risk of bias tools from National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Systematic review appraisal

• ROBIS: Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews
• AMSTAR: Shea et al. Development of AMSTAR: a measurement tool to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews

General checklist

• Kmet, L. M., Lee, R. C., Cook, L. S., & Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. (2004). Standard quality assessment criteria for evaluating primary research papers from a variety of fields. Edmonton, Alta: Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research.

Education

• Koufogiannakis, Denise and Booth, Andrew and Brettle, Alison.  ReLIANT: Reader’s guide to the Literature on Interventions Addressing the Need for education and Training., 2006

Joanna Briggs Institute (health-related reviews)

• Case-Control Studies
• Case Reports
• Case Series
• Cohort Studies
• Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies
• Economic Evaluations
• Prevalence Studies
• Quasi-Experimental Studies
• Randomized Controlled Trials
• Systematic Reviews
• Text and Expert Opinion
• Analytical cross-sectional studies
• Qualitative research

Environment

OHAT Risk of Bias Rating Tool for Human and Animal Studies

Center for Evidence-Based Management critical appraisal tools

• Systematic review or meta-analysis
• Controlled study
• Cohort or panel study
• Case-control study
• Cross-sectional survey
• Qualitative study
• Case study

Nutrition

Nutrition Evidence Library Bias Assessment Tool (BAT)

• GRADE: Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation
  • MAGIC: app to help develop and publish guidelines
• Assessing the certainty of evidence
• USDA/Nutrition: levels of evidence