Did you know that more and more social sciences librarians are part of research teams conducting evidence synthesis work?
A systematic review, a type of evidence synthesis, is a summary of the literature that uses explicit and reproducible methods to systematically search, critically appraise, and synthesize on a specific issue. Librarians and researchers are collaborating frequently on systematic reviews.
Hosted by the IFLA Social Sciences Libraries Section Standing Committee , join us for an introduction to the systematic review process and hear from experts who have engaged in and have published systematic reviews.
This free webinar will demystify the systematic review process.
Bring your questions and all are welcome to attend.
Please share this webinar widely!
Schedule
June 5, Wednesday, 10 am-11:30 am EST. Please check your time zone.
Presentations
Systematic Review in the Realm of Social Science
by Muhammad Yousuf Ali (Karachi, Pakistan) Abstract: Systematic review is the core methodology to carry out evidence-based literature synthesis in a systematic way. Systematic review is very popular methodology in the field of Health/Medical Sciences The first systematic review was published in 1753 by James Lind, who provided a summary of evidence on scurvy (Egger et al., 2022). The term "systematic review" was first introduced in social sciences in the 1930s to summarize previous studies that tested a hypothesis (Moosapour et al., 2021).
Today Systematic review is not limited only to health science and now days systematic review conducted in the core subjects of social science, like Education, Economics, Journalism, Health Science etc. Last one-decade social science there is substantial growth of systematic review the field of social sciences. In this discussion discuss how to carry out systematic review in the field of social sciences and role of the social science librarian in the building of search strategy and literature search and retrieved the studies from different databases.
Implementing an Interdisciplinary Systematic Review Service
by Ryan Harris (North Carolina, USA) Abstract: An academic library that serves a wide variety of departments and programs was approached by the Associate Dean for Research from its College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) about piloting a formal systematic review service. Some systematic review support had been done on an ad hoc basis for the CHHS faculty, supported by the subject librarian for health and human services, and the Department of Special Education and Child Development, supported by the Associate Dean for Public Services, but a formal service was not offered. The Dean of the CHHS was interested in its faculty doing more systematic reviews and was willing to provide funding to provide access to systematic review screening software. Due to workload demands it was determined that a pilot program would be offered to provide formal support for systematic reviews. Librarians would work with several research teams to develop and execute search strategies, help with the screening software, provide documentation of searches, and assist in writing the methodology. Librarians would be included as co-authors in any publications resulting from this pilot program. In order to gauge interest in this type of service, a workshop was developed by librarians and offered to faculty at CHHS. This workshop provided an overview of systematic reviews, including the definition of a systematic review, an overview of various systematic review standards, question development, the literature search process, the review process, various available tools for risk of bias assessment, and activities including evaluation of research questions and of existing published systematic reviews. Faculty interested in participating in the program had to submit a proposal with their research question and research team. Librarians and the associate dean for research reviewed all submissions. After the selection of CHHS faculty to participate in the pilot program, the Associate Dean for Research from the School of Education reached out to librarians to see if there would be the possibility of offering a similar service for education faculty. The pilot program has been going on for the 2022 - 2023 and 2023 - 2024 academic years. Librarians have worked with 19 research teams since the launch of the pilot.
Conducting Systematic Reviews in a Limited Resourced Country: A Namibian Experience
by Anna Leonard (Namibia ) Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on evidence-based practice in healthcare and other fields. Systematic reviews play a crucial role in synthesizing existing evidence to inform policy and practice. However, conducting systematic reviews in a limited-resourced setting presents knowledge, unique experiences, and challenges. The presentation will delve into the unique obstacles encountered by researchers conducting systematic reviews in limited-resourced contexts like Namibia. Some of the challenges faced by researchers include limited skills to carry out systematic reviews, scarcity of local published grey literature, and access to information resources, databases, and systematic review tools (Covidence, Rayyan, Epp-Reviewer, etc.). Researchers need to use adaptable methods and strategies to ensure that systematic review studies from limited resources maintain quality, rigor, and credibility. Based on personal observations and experiences, the presentation will highlight different approaches and make recommendations for improving systematic reviews in Namibia and other limited-resourced countries.
Large Language Models for Writing Scientific Reviews
by Andrey Evgenievich Guskov (Novosibirsk, Russia) Abstract: The presentation discusses the use of large language models (LLMs) in the preparation of systematic reviews, highlighting their potential to significantly improve both efficiency and quality. It shows the capabilities of LLMs to perform key roles in the preparation of reviews, including the selection of relevant literature, the classification of articles into thematic topics relevant to the review, the extraction of key findings and other relevant data from full texts, and the drafting of the review manuscript. By integrating LLMs into the systematic review process, researchers can significantly reduce the time required to prepare reviews, while improving the overall quality of the reviews. These advance promises to revolutionize the field of scientific research and information science by making the laborious task of literature reviewing more manageable and accurate.
Partners
This webinar is co-sponsored by the American Library Association's Library Research Round Table (LRRT).
Questions
Please reach out if you have any questions: IFLA Social Sciences Libraries Section iflasocsci@gmail.com For more information please visit the event page on IFLA site .