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NURS 415 Evidence-Based Nursing Guide

Systematic Reviews

According to the Campbell Collaboration, "The purpose of a systematic review is to sum up the best available research on a specific question. This is done by synthesizing the results of several studies."

We have access to systematic reviews through our databases, but you might find some through other sources on the web. Please use the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) form to request reviews that we do not have full text access to.

Searching for Systematic Reviews

Campbell Systematic Reviews is an open access journal prepared under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration. The journal publishes systematic reviews, evidence and gap maps, and methods research papers. Browse by Subject Categories or Article Types.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) is the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care. CDSR includes all Cochrane Reviews (and protocols) prepared by Cochrane Review Groups. Each Cochrane Review is a systematic review that has been prepared and supervised by a Cochrane Review Group (editorial team). It attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question.

Another way to search for a systematic review is through our CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.  Follow these steps:

  1. Go to CINAHL (log in if prompted)
  2. Enter in your search term in the search box
  3. Scroll down and click "Full text"
  4. Scroll further down until you see "Publication Type" and select "Systematic Review"
  5. Go back to the top of the page and click Search
  • You should now see systematic reviews available on your topic. If you do not receive any results, re-work your search terms and submit the search again.
  • Another way to find systematic reviews is to use the words "systematic review" as a keyword in your search. For example, "childhood obesity" AND "systematic review".
Subjects: Nursing (NURS)