This lecture provides an overview of the methodological differences between the different types of reviews. The following outlines are covered: What is research? Types of research? Reviews and Types of reviews Traditional reviews Scoping reviews Systematic Reviews Rapid Reviews Umbrella Reviews

1. INTRODUCTION TO
REVIEW ARTICLES
FORTUNE EFFIONG
● African Community for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (ACSRM), Rwanda
● AuthorAID, UK
● Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH), UK

2. WHAT WILL WE BE DISCUSSING?
1 What is
Research?
2 Types of Research
3 Reviews
and types
4 Traditional Reviews
5 Scooping
Reviews
6 Rapid Reviews
7
Systematic
Reviews and
Meta-analyses
8 Umbrella Reviews
9 Narrative Reviews
in more details
=

3. INTRODUCTION TO
RESEARCH

4. RESEARCH
Systematic
Investigation
Problem
Verify
Facts
Solution
WHAT IS RESEARCH?

5. TYPES OF RESEARCH
(CATEGORIES)

6. 96

7. TYPES OF RESEARCH
1
Involves direct, first-hand information
and data generated from research
2
Information and data generated is
often independent and novel
3
E.g. Case studies, Clinical trials,
Preclinical studies, Public assessments
Primary Research Secondary Research
1
Involves interpretation and analysis of the
information from primary research studies
2
Often contributes a different or new
perspective to what is already known
3
E.g. Commentary/Opinion pieces, Reviews,
Editorials, Letters to the Editor (LTTE)

8. TYPES OF RESEARCH PAPERS
1 Letter to the
Editor
2 Commentary/Perspec
tive
3 Reviews
4 Original Research
5 Editorials
6 Research Essay
7 Case Reports
8 Short
Communication

9. REVIEW ARTICLES

10. WHAT ARE REVIEW
ARTICLES?
❖ Review articles summarize or synthesize the current understanding
of a topic of interest.
❖ Review articles provide a critical summary of the existing literature to
explain the current state of scientific evidence on a particular topic.

11. WHAT ARE REVIEW
ARTICLES?
❖ Considering the overwhelming number of diverse review types,
the initial burden authors face is to choose the review type that
matches their purpose best.
❖ Despite the continuous rise in the number of review types,
there are sources that provide guidance about this issue
❖ No matter what type of review is undertaken, the key points in a
review article are to have a predefined methodology which is
clearly explained in the text, and to have a structured format.

12. TYPES OF REVIEW ARTICLES
1 Traditional reviews
2 Scoping Reviews
3 Rapid Reviews
4 Systematic Reviews
5 Qualitative reviews
6 Umbrella reviews

13. TRADITIONAL REVIEWS
❖ Traditional reviews usually cover advances in different aspects
of a chosen topic and provide assessment of the subject within
a broad spectrum.
❖ No formal guidance exists for traditional reviews.
❖ However, they have become increasingly more comprehensive
and systematic since the emergence of systematic reviews.
❖ Narrative reviews and critical reviews are examples of
traditional reviews

14. NARRATIVE REVIEWS
❖ A narrative review involves a thorough examination of existing
literature, encompassing a diverse array of subjects with
varying degrees of depth and comprehensiveness.
❖ The primary goal of such reviews is to offer a critical
interpretation, achieved through the synthesis of prior
literature, utilizing the creative and expert judgment of the
reviewer(s)

15. EXAMPLES OF
NARRATIVE REVIEWS

16. SCOPING REVIEWS
❖ A scoping review is conducted with more specific objectives than
narrative reviews.
❖ Typically, scoping reviews aim to identify knowledge gaps and
provide recommendations for future research.
❖ They provide broad overviews of evidence on a given topic and
help to clarify key concepts, particularly in emerging fields

17. EXAMPLES OF SCOPING
REVIEWS

18. SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
❖ Systematic reviews adopt a specific aim and a well-defined,
rigorous methodology to answer a particular question.
❖ They usually focus on specific study types such as randomized
controlled studies, observational studies, etc.
❖ They have well defined reporting standards and guidance.
❖ Systematic reviews provide the highest level of evidence in
medical sciences, playing an important role in the development
of clinical guidelines.

19. META-ANALYSIS
❖ A meta-analysis is conducted with a systematic review, when
homogeneous data and results from the studies included in a
systematic review are statistically combined and analyzed,
eventually producing an overall statistical outcome that
quantifies how effective a given experimental intervention is in
comparison to a control intervention
❖ Meta-analysis is the most popular example of quantitative
systematic review types.

21. EXAMPLES OF
SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
AND META-ANALYSES

22. RAPID REVIEWS
❖ Rapid reviews are conducted when expedited summaries of
evidence are essential.
❖ They typically follow a methodology similar to the traditional
systematic reviews, but with a streamlined process designed
for time efficiency.
❖ This streamlining may involve narrowing the scope, searching
fewer databases, or extracting limited data from each included
study, guided by the specific urgency of the need and
accompanied by appropriate justification.

24. EXAMPLES OF RAPID
REVIEWS

25. UMBRELLA REVIEWS
❖ Umbrella reviews are reviews of reviews.
❖ However, umbrella reviews are based on reviews and
meta-analyses, and thus they provide a higher level of
evidence.
❖ They are considered helpful in comparing two or more
treatments or interventions for the same condition

26. EXAMPLES OF
UMBRELLA REVIEWS

27. NARRATIVE REVIEWS

28. ❖ Although no guidelines exist for traditional narrative reviews,
they too should have a rational methodology explained clearly.
❖ Just like research papers, the most common and convenient
practice is to write a narrative review paper in “introduction,
methods, results, and discussion (IMRaD)” format accompanied
by title, abstract, key words, and references.

29. SECTIONS OF A NARRATIVE
REVIEW
1 Introductions
2 Main Text
3 Conclusion
4 Abstract

30. INTRODUCTIONS
❖ Establish the rationale for the review.
❖ State the purpose, which should: – Flow logically from the
rationale. – Guide the rest of the review.
❖ Keep it short.

31. MAIN TEXT
❖ Summarize individual studies by restating the main points in
your own words.
❖ Paraphrase a statement from a study by restating the same
information in your own words

32. MAIN TEXT
❖ Use transitions to signal similarities, contrasts, or other
relationships between studies.
❖ Examples: however, in contrast, likewise, similarly, furthermore,
moreover)
❖ Interpret each group of findings as a whole. § Identify areas
where more research is needed.

33. WRITING THE CONCLUSION
❖ End with a conclusion that corresponds to the purpose of the
review and is based on the presented material.
❖ The conclusion may be followed by a few sentences that
emphasize areas where more research is needed.

34. CRITIQUE OF A NARRATIVE
REVIEW

35. SOURCES CONSULTED
❖ Ferrari R. Writing narrative style literature reviews. Medical
writing. 2015 Dec 1;24(4):230-5.
❖ Gülpınar Ö, Güçlü AG. How to write a review article?. Turkish
journal of urology. 2013 Sep;39(Suppl 1):44.
❖ Almıla ER. Basics of writing review articles. Archives of
Neuropsychiatry. 2022;59(1):1.
❖ Bhandari B. Writing a review article: Not a piece of cake.
AuthorAID. 2022 Jan. Available here:
https://www.authoraid.info/en/news/details/1519/
❖ Clark E. Using Rapid Reviews: Gauging Trustworthiness and
Applying Findings. 2023

36. THANK YOU