Systematic Review Service

Princeton University Library offers two levels of service for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: one level offers in-depth consultations on reviews and the second offers the possibility of librarian co-authorship. 

Tier One: Research Consultation (1-3 hours)

In this model, the subject librarian can advise the research team on: 

• Sources of studies: databases, grey literature, listservs, contacting authors
• Identifying keywords and constructing an effective search query
• How to validate a search query
• Executing searches and exporting results
• Recommendations for bibliographic management
• Recommendations for automation tools for screening

Eligibility

All researchers are welcome to schedule research consultations for all types of reviews for any subject area. 

Tier Two: Librarian as Research Collaborator and Co-author (2-6 weeks)

Solely at the discretion of the librarian and according to their time and availability, it may be possible for the librarian to join the research team as a collaborator and co-author who is responsible for data collection (gathering studies).  In this model the librarian will: 

• Identify sources of literature
• Work with the research team to identify keywords
• Construct and validate the search query
• Execute and document the search
• Export bibliographic records into a bibliographic record manager (ex. Zotero, EndNote)
• De-duplicate search results
• Present the research team with the initial data set for screening
• Contribute to the methodology section of the manuscript
• Provide supplementary materials for reproducibility of the search strategy

Eligibility

1. Tier Two of the Systematic Review Service which offers librarian co-authorship is only available to research teams producing a systematic review or meta-analysis. At this time we do not offer co-authorship for other review types such as scoping reviews, mapping reviews, or literature reviews. 
2. The research team must agree to register a research protocol (research plan). 
3. The research team must agree to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines the responsibilities of the librarian and establishing co-authorship. 
4. Librarians may not co-author any piece of research or scholarship that will be submitted for a grade.