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What are scoping reviews? Providing a formal definition of scoping reviews as a type of evidence synthesis.

Munn, Zachary; Pollock, Danielle; Khalil, Hanan; Alexander, Lyndsay; Mclnerney, Patricia; Godfrey, Christina M.; Peters, Micah; Tricco, Andrea C.

Authors

Zachary Munn

Danielle Pollock

Hanan Khalil

Patricia Mclnerney

Christina M. Godfrey

Micah Peters

Andrea C. Tricco



Abstract

Evidence synthesis encompasses a broad range of review types and scoping reviews are an increasingly popular approach to synthesizing evidence in a number of fields. They sit alongside other evidence synthesis methodologies such as systematic reviews, qualitative evidence synthesis, realist synthesis and many more. Until now, scoping reviews have been variously defined in the literature. In this article, we provide the following formal definition for scoping reviews: Scoping reviews are a type of evidence synthesis that aims to systematically identify and map the breadth of evidence available on a particular topic, field, concept, or issue, often irrespective of source (i.e. primary research, reviews, non-empirical evidence) within or across particular contexts. Scoping reviews can clarify key concepts/definitions in the literature and identify key characteristics or factors related to a concept, including those related to methodological research.

Citation

MUNN, Z., POLLOCK, D., KHALIL, H., ALEXANDER, L., MCINERNEY, P., GODFREY, C.M., PETERS, M. and TRICCO, A.C. 2022. What are scoping reviews? Providing a formal definition of scoping reviews as a type of evidence synthesis. JBI evidence synthesis [online], 20(4), pages 950-952. Available from: https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00483

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 30, 2022
Online Publication Date Apr 30, 2022
Publication Date Apr 30, 2022
Deposit Date Jul 1, 2022
Publicly Available Date May 1, 2023
Journal JBI evidence synthesis
Electronic ISSN 2689-8381
Publisher Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 20
Issue 4
Pages 950-952
DOI https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00483
Keywords Research methods; Evidence syntheses
Public URL https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1670194

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Publisher Licence URL
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in JBI Evidence Synthesis. The published version of record MUNN, Z., POLLOCK, D., KHALIL, H., ALEXANDER, L., MCINERNEY, P., GODFREY, C.M., PETERS, M. and TRICCO, A.C. 2022. What are scoping reviews? Providing a formal definition of scoping reviews as a type of evidence synthesis. JBI evidence synthesis, 20(4), pages 950-952. Available from: https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-21-00483 insert complete citation information here] is available online at: https://journals.lww.com/10.11124/JBIES-21-00483





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