UCF Research Guides: Evidence Synthesis: Organizations & Standards

Organizations

Cochrane and Campbell Collaboration are two primary organizations that provide key guidance for authors conducting evidence synthesis research. Additional organizations that provide guidance relating to various types of reviews are also provided. Methods used in evidence synthesis reviews have chiefly been developed by organizations and researchers in the fields of medicine and health sciences. As such, many of the published resources in this guide are from science-related disciplines.

Cochrane
" International, not-for-profit organization that collaborates to produce & disseminate trusted systematic reviews aimed at helping people make well-informed healthcare interventions."
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions
UCF ebook-- Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., Welch, V. A., & Cochrane Collaboration, issuing body. (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (J. P. T. Higgins, J. Thomas, J. Chandler, M. Cumpston, T. Li, M. J. Page, & V. A. Welch, Eds.; Second edition.)
Campbell Collaboration
"International social sciences & social policy research network that publishes systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis projects in education, crime & justice, social welfare, and more to promote evidence-based policy and practice."
Evidence for Policy & Practice Information (EPPI) Center
"The EPPI Center is based at University College London and conducts systematic reviews in the fields of Education, Health Promotion and Public Health, as well as social welfare and international development."
Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)
JBI "is a global organisation promoting and supporting evidence-based decisions that improve health and health service delivery."

Registries & Reporting

PRISMA website
The PRISMA site provides information about reporting guidelines and extensions to PRISMA statements. The documents facilitate different types of systematic reviews "to help authors transparently report why their systematic review was done, what methods they used, and what they found."
PRISMA Checklist
"Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses."
PRISMA Flow Diagram
The flow diagram depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a systematic review. It maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions.
Open Science Framework (OSF)
"OSF provides open source software created by the Centre for Open Science to support research, collaboration, and increase reproducibility in research."
PROSPERO
PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health related outcome. Key features from the review protocol are recorded and maintained as a permanent record. PROSPERO aims to provide a comprehensive listing of systematic reviews registered at inception to help avoid duplication and reduce opportunity for reporting bias by enabling comparison of the completed review with what was planned in the protocol."