Q. How can an information professional augment a systematic review team? If my research question has interdisciplinary elements, do I need to have multiple information specialists on the systematic review team?
Answer
Librarians, trained in systematic reviews, are able to:
- Gather appropriate controlled vocabulary & keywords in conjunction with team members
- Conduct literature searches across multiple databases
- Advise on gray literature resources
- Assist with citation management
- Advise on retrieving full-text articles
- Refine and update searches
- Write the methodology section for publication
- Review the manuscript
- Maintain communication with other team members
If the research question involves multiple interdisciplinary elements, it is helpful to have several subject matter experts and subject librarians on the systematic review team to advise on databases and literature discovered.