10.1.3 The scoping review framework
- Carolyn Phillips
Â
The framework originally proposed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005) has been influential in the conduct of scoping reviews. Their framework has been further enhanced by the work of Levac and colleagues (2010) (see Table 11.2). Levac and colleagues (2010) provide more explicit detail regarding what occurs at each stage of the review process and this enhancement increases both the clarity and rigor of the review process. Both of these frameworks have underpinned the development of the JBI approach to the conduct of scoping reviews (Peters et al. 2015).
Table 11.2: Scoping review frameworks
Arksey and O’Malley framework (2005, p. 22-23) | Enhancements proposed by Levac et al. (2010, p. 4-8) | *Enhancements proposed by Peters et al (2015, 2017, 2020). | |
|---|---|---|---|
1. | Identifying the research question | Clarifying and linking the purpose and research question | Defining and aligning the objective/s and question/s |
2. | Identifying relevant studies | Balancing feasibility with breadth and comprehensiveness of the scoping process | Developing and aligning the inclusion criteria with the objective/s and question/s |
3. | Study selection | Using an iterative team approach to selecting studies and extracting data | Describing the planned approach to evidence searching, selection, data extraction, and presentation of the evidence. |
4. | Charting the data | Incorporating a numerical summary and qualitative thematic analysis | Searching for the evidence |
5. | Collating, summarizing and reporting the results | Identifying the implications of the study findings for policy, practice or research | Selecting the evidence |
6. | Consultation (optional) | Adopting consultation as a required component of scoping study methodology | Extracting the evidence |
7. |  Analysis of the evidence | ||
8. | Presentation of the results | ||
9. | Summarizing the evidence in relation to the purpose of the review, making conclusions and noting any implications of the findings |
*Consultation of information scientists, stakeholders and/or experts throughout, including in the topic prioritization, planning, execution and dissemination