Systematic reviews are complex and may require research team members that represent different areas of expertise, including subject experts, statisticians, database search professionals, and those familiar with the methodology of conducting a systematic review.
PICO is the acronym used to build a searchable question about clinical effectiveness. If you have other types of questions you may use a modified PICO or another acronym that better fits your question.
Learn more about formulating a question:
Before starting on your Systematic Review, you will want to develop a protocol to guide you through this complex process. A protocol describes the rationale for your research, your hypothesis, and your planned methods of review. When planning your methods for review, you will need to define inclusionary and exclusionary criteria for your evidence.
Although it is not required, it is encouraged that you register your planned systematic review protocol in PROSPERO or OSF.
There are many resources to help you develop a protocol. Even if you are not conducting a Cochrane Review, the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews is considered to be the best practices guide for this process. Additionally, the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis is really helpful in selecting protocols based on type of question (i.e., qualitative evidence, etiology, scoping reviews, etc.).
