9.2.3 Introduction

The introduction should be comprehensive and cover all the main elements of the topic under review. It should cover the extant knowledge addressing the question of the Umbrella Review. The reason for undertaking the Umbrella Review should be clearly stated together with the target audience and what the Umbrella Review is intended to inform.

The suggested length for the introduction of the review protocol is approximately 1000 words. The background should detail any definitions important to the topic of interest. The information in the introduction section must also be sufficient to put the inclusion criteria into context, including an indication that there are existing systematic reviews or research syntheses available on the topic, hence supporting the rationale to conduct an Umbrella Review. The introduction should conclude a statement that a preliminary search for existing Umbrella Reviews on the topic has been/will be conducted (state the databases searched or search platforms utilized e.g. Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PubMed, EPPI, Epistomonikos and PROSPERO where relevant). If there is an existing Umbrella Review or overview of systematic reviews available on the topic, a justification that specifies how the proposed review will differ from those already conducted and identified should be detailed. 

The introduction should conclude with an overarching review objective that captures and aligns with the core elements/mnemonic of the inclusion criteria (e.g. PICO). The stated objective should clearly indicate what the review project is trying to achieve. The objective(s) may be broad and will be aligned to specific review question(s). For example, using the first title introduced above, the objectives or aims may be: To examine non-pharmacological interventions for the management of aggressive behaviors in elderly patients with dementia.

For publication in JBI Evidence Synthesis, Vancouver style of referencing should be used throughout the protocol with superscript numbers without brackets, used for in-text citations.