literature-review

name	literature-review
description	Systematic literature review methodology, search strategy, and PRISMA reporting

Systematic Literature Review

Overview

A systematic review follows a structured, reproducible methodology to identify, evaluate, and synthesize all relevant evidence on a research question. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) provides the reporting standard.

Search Strategy

1. Define PICO: Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome.
2. Build search query: Combine MeSH terms and free-text with Boolean operators.
3. Select databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, Embase.
4. Document everything: Record date, database, exact query, and result count.

PubMed Query Example

("breast cancer"[MeSH] OR "breast neoplasms"[tiab])
AND ("immunotherapy"[MeSH] OR "checkpoint inhibitor"[tiab])
AND ("overall survival"[tiab] OR "progression-free survival"[tiab])

Programmatic PubMed Access

from Bio import Entrez
Entrez.email = "[e-mail]"

handle = Entrez.esearch(db="pubmed", term="CRISPR AND cancer", retmax=100)
record = Entrez.read(handle)
pmids = record["IdList"]

handle = Entrez.efetch(db="pubmed", id=pmids[:10], rettype="xml")
records = Entrez.read(handle)

PRISMA Flow

1. Identification: Total records from all databases.
2. Screening: Remove duplicates, screen titles/abstracts.
3. Eligibility: Full-text review against inclusion/exclusion criteria.
4. Included: Final studies for qualitative/quantitative synthesis.

Key Details

• Register protocol on PROSPERO before starting.
• Use reference managers (Zotero, EndNote) for deduplication.
• Risk of bias: use Cochrane RoB 2 (RCTs) or ROBINS-I (observational).
• For meta-analysis, extract effect sizes (OR, HR, SMD) with confidence intervals.
• Report PRISMA 2020 checklist and flow diagram in final publication.
• Screening tools: Rayyan, ASReview (AI-assisted), Covidence.