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Quality Assurance

Resources for systematic reviews in biomedical research

A high-quality systematic review (with or without a meta-analysis) follows a rigorous and reproducible methodology resulting in a comprehensive summary and appraisal of research in a field. The key characteristics of a systematic review are:

  • a clearly stated set of objectives with an explicit, reproducible methodology
  • a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that would meet the eligibility criteria
  • an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias and
  • systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies

Well-conducted systematic reviews (published in reputable, peer-reviewed journals in the case of doctorate by publication) are considered original research articles for the purposes of fulfilling doctoral degree requirements at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin according to the current Doctoral Degree Regulations 2017 (PO2017), providing they follow high quality standards.

Below we have collated resources to assist researchers design, conduct, and report high quality systematic reviews.

Below we have collated resources to assist researchers design, conduct, and report high quality systematic reviews.