1.6 Reporting and conduct standards

Reporting standards like those produced for primary research designs (CONSORT, STROBE etc) have also been prepared for systematic reviews. The PRISMA 2020 statement,³ or Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses provides a 27 item checklist for review authors on how to report a systematic review and systematic review abstract. JBI endorses the PRISMA statement. An extension to the PRISMA statement, PRISMA-P, outlines standards for systematic review protocols,³ while an extension to the PRISMA statement PRISMA-ScR provides reporting standards for scoping reviews. Both are similarly endorsed by JBI. 

Review authors should follow the JBI Evidence Synthesis author guidelines or the guidelines of other journals they are submitting to. Many journals will require a completed PRISMA checklist to be submitted with the review manuscript.  

Beyond the Chapters in this Manual that provide guidance for the conduct of different types of systematic reviews, other useful guidance also exists for the conduct of systematic reviews from other groups such as the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), GRADE, Cochrane, EPPI-Centre, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), reporting initiatives in the EQUATOR network, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).