About Step 2: Develop a Protocol
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In Step 2, you will write your review protocol. This is a detailed work plan for your scoping & systematic reviews. You will:
- Define the criteria you will use to screen literature.
- Decide where and how you will search for literature.
- Choose quality assessment tools to evaluate the literature (systematic reviews only).
- Decide how you will extract data from the articles you include.
- Upload your protocol to a website or registry to make it available to the public.
This page has checklists and templates to help you write your protocol. Librarians can help you refine your protocol based on review best-practices.
For PRISMA, there are specific items you will want to report in your protocol. For this step, review the PRISMA-P standards and the explanation document.
- PRISMA-P for Protocols
- PRISMA-P Explanation & Elaboration document
- PRISMA-P Checklist
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Peters, M. D. J., Godfrey, C., McInerney, P., Khalil, H., Larsen, P., Marnie, C., Pollock, D., Tricco, A. C., & Munn, Z. (2022). Best practice guidance and reporting items for the development of scoping review protocols. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 20(4), 953–968. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00242
detailed information and to submit a request form.
When writing your protocol, a librarian can help you:
- Develop and refine your research plan according to review best practices
- Advise on your literature searching methods documentation
- Determine if/where to publish or share your completed protocol
Why a Protocol?
The protocol is the plan or methodology of your review. You need to develop your protocol at the beginning of the process before you start your searches. You may refine your protocol as you progress through your review. The iterative nature of systematic & scoping reviews may necessitate some changes.
Protocols describe the rationale, hypothesis, and planned methods of the project before the review has begun and allow readers of completed reviews to identify deviations from planned methods and determine whether the bias impacts the interpretation of review results and conclusions. You can upload a review protocol to a website or registry and make it accessible so researchers can know what reviews are planned or in process. While not an inclusive list, several options of places to upload or deposit your protocol can be found below in the box labeled "Make your protocol visible".
As an example, you may want to write a brief protocol to register it on the open science framework and then in the meantime work on the protocol for publication that has a bit more detail.
Write the Protocol
Many elements of a review will need to be detailed in advance in the protocol. An example of items included in the protocol are:
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Team members (step 1)
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Rationale and objectives of the review (step 1)
- Key questions broken into PICO or PCC (or other structured research question) components (step 1)
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Eligibility criteria (also referred to as inclusion and exclusion criteria) (step 1)
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Databases and key terms of the literature search (ideally, a sample search strategy for at least one database) (step 3)
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Process and tools for study selection (screening), quality assessment/risk of bias (optional for scoping reviews), and data extraction (charting) (step 5, 6, & 7)
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Data items that will be extracted
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Methods of data synthesis
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and more!
Unsure of what to include in your review protocol or how to address certain items? PRISMA has a special extension specifically for best reporting methods of writing a protocol. While originally developed for systematic review protocols, much of the guidance in this document is applicable to scoping review protocols as well. View a list of help documents below, including an E&E (Elaboration & Explanation) document for examples.
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Systematic Review:
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PRISMA-P 2015 Statement: PRISMA reporting guideline for systematic review protocols.
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PRISMA-P 2015 E&E: PRISMA-P Elaboration & Explanation document of the 2015 Statement (includes examples).
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PRISMA-P 2015 Checklist: Choose between PDF and Word versions of the PRISMA-P 2015 Checklist
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Scoping Review:
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Peters, M. D. J., Godfrey, C., McInerney, P., Khalil, H., Larsen, P., Marnie, C., Pollock, D., Tricco, A. C., & Munn, Z. (2022). Best practice guidance and reporting items for the development of scoping review protocols. JBI Evidence Synthesis, 20(4), 953–968. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00242
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Joanna Briggs Institute also has protocol templates.
- Development of a scoping review protocol: Section 10.2 of the JBI Reviewer's manual, which explains how to write the protocol
- Systematic Review Protocol Planning: Section 1.3 of the JBI Reviewer's Manual.
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Gehring, D. R., Titus, S. K., Dr., & George, R. (2024, May 8). The perceived concerns of nurse educators’ use of genAI in nursing education: a scoping review protocol. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WU5ZS
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Mordiffi, S. Z., Peters, M. D. J., & Ang, E. N. K. (2016). The use of non-invasive thermometers in healthcare facilities: A scoping review protocol. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, 14(11), 106–112. https://doi.org/10.11124/JBISRIR-2016-003173
- Golding, M. A., Askin, N., Ayel Luis R. Batac, Merrill, K. A., Abrams, E. M., Bégin, P., Ben-Shoshan, M., Ladouceur, E., Roos, L. E., Protudjer, V., & Protudjer, J. L. P. (2022). vACcine COnfidence amongst those living with alleRgy during the COVID pandemic (ACCORD): a scoping review protocol. Allergy, Asthma, and Clinical Immunology, 18, 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13223-022-00723-w
- Hamilton, E. A. A., Dornan, L., Sinclair, M., McCoy, J., & Kernohan, W. G. (2021). A scoping review protocol: mapping the range of policy-related evidence influencing maternal health outcomes in a fragile, low-income country. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 77(10), 4246–4253. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14956
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Stults-Kolehmainen, M. A., Blacutt, M., Bartholomew, J. B., Boullosa, D., Janata, P., Koo, B. B., McKee, P. C., Casper, R., Budnick, C. J., Gilson, T. A., Blakemore, R. L., Filgueiras, A., Williamson, S. L., SantaBarbara, N., Barker, J. L., Bueno, F. A., Heldring, J., & Ash, G. I. (2022). Urges to move and other motivation states for physical activity in clinical and healthy populations: A scoping review protocol. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 901272. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901272
- Chalmers, S., Hill, J., Connell, L., Ackerley, S. J., Kulkarni, A. A., & Roddam, H. (2023). Allied health professional research engagement and impact on healthcare performance: a systematic review protocol. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 58(3), 959–967. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12812
- Aguree, S., Zolnoori, M., Atwood, T. P., & Owora, A. (2023). Association between choline supplementation and Alzheimer’s disease risk: a systematic review protocol. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2023.1242853
- Napolitano, F., Calzolari, M., Pagnucci, N., Zanini, M., Catania, G., Aleo, G., Gomes, L., Sasso, L., & Bagnasco, A. (2023). The effectiveness of learning strategies for the development of emotional intelligence in undergraduate nursing students: a systematic review protocol. Nurse Education in Practice, 72, 103797–103797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2023.103797
- Connor, J., Flenady, T., Dwyer, T., & Massey, D. (2023). Application of classic grounded theory in nursing studies: a qualitative systematic review protocol. BMJ Open, 13(7). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-068588
- Hu, S., Chen, W., Hu, H., Huang, W., Chen, J., & Hu, J. (2022). Coaching to develop leadership for healthcare managers: a mixed-method systematic review protocol. Systematic Reviews, 11, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-01946-z
According to the JBI Reviewer’s Manual (chapter 10.2), a scoping review protocol should include the following:
- Title
- An introduction detailing:
- definitions
- overall review objectives/aim
- explanation of the need for a review
- details of any preliminary searches undertaken
- keywords
- Protocol Registration number
- Research Question
- Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
- Follow PCC
- eligibility criteria (with contextualization and rationalization)
- Methods
- Search strategy
- Explanation of search approach, including:
- which black and grey literature will be searched
- justification for choices
- Example Search Strategy
- Explanation of search approach, including:
- Source of evidence selection
- including resolving disagreements between reviewers
- Data extraction/charting process
- draft charting table/form for data extraction and accompanying explanation
- Results/Data Analysis & Presentation
- How results and data will be presented (e.g. draft chart, figure or table)
- Search strategy
Use the following template to preregister systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and meta-analyses on OSF.
Template & Guidance on how to complete the Protocol document can be found here: https://osf.io/ym65x
Evidence Synthesis Protocol Template: This template provides a framework for developing a protocol for systematic or scoping reviews.
From Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Section II.1.4
Title
Protocol
- Background
- Objectives
- Methods
- Criteria for selecting studies for this review
- Outcome measures
- Search methods for identification of studies
- Data collection and analysis
- Consumer involvement
Other supplementary materials
Information
- Authors
- Acknowledgements
- Contributions of authors
- Declarations of interest
- Sources of support
- Registration and protocol
- Data, code and other materials
References
Figures and Tables
Make your protocol visible
You can upload your review protocol to a website or registry and make it accessible so researchers can know what reviews are planned or in process. While not an inclusive list, several options of places to upload or deposit your protocol can be found below.
- Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)
A review title can be registered with JBI on completion of the online Systematic Review Title Registration Form. Once titles become registered with JBI, they are listed on the website. We recommend that you register both scoping and systematic reviews here as well as Prospero (for systematic reviews) and Open Science Framework (for scoping reviews). - PROSPERO
International prospective register of systematic reviews - Open Science Framework (OSF)
Recommended by PRISMA and PRISMA-ScR, the Open Science Framework is a free, open platform to support users' research and enable collaboration. From OSF Registries, Generalized Systematic Review Registration is available. Researchers use the OSF to collaborate, document, archive, share, and register research projects, materials, and data. OSF can be used to pre-register a scoping/systematic review protocol and to share documents such as a Zotero library, search strategies, and data extraction forms.Unlike other registries, evidence synthesis author teams do not submit their protocols for review by an editorial board before they are accepted and pre-registered on OSF. Instead, create your own pre-registration (instructions here).
- Figshare
Figshare is an open repository where users can make all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner.
- Campbell Systematic Reviews
Campbell Systematic Reviews is a journal that publishes systematic reviews and protocols. - Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews is a journal and database that publishes systematic reviews and protocols. - Systematic Reviews (BMC)
A journal that publishes high-quality systematic review products, including systematic review protocols, systematic reviews related to a very broad definition of health, rapid reviews, updates of already completed systematic reviews, and methods research related to the science of systematic reviews, such as decision modeling.