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Systematic Reviews

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On this page you will find:

  • Requirements and guiding principles for presenting Systematic Review results
  • Useful automation tools 
  • Relevant AI tools and resources

Presentation of Results

The final presentation of results in a systematic review involves reporting on all facets of the process, including:

  • Study selection and inclusion/exclusion criteria
    Much of this will replicate the protocol, after all, the protocol outlines the planned methodology for the Systematic Review. 
  • Methodological quality of the included studies
    This reflects the results of the Critical Appraisal process.
  • Detailed characteristics and descriptions of the included studies, including design, sample size, setting, intervention, and more.
    This reflects the results of the data extraction process.
  • Findings and outcomes of the review.
    This includes a GRADE Summary of Findings Tables, which present the main findings in a transparent, structured, and simple format.
  • Results of the synthesis to inform the recommendations. 
    Including a statement of findings, a considered discussion, and a clear presentation of author conclusions.

Guiding Principles

Some guiding principles on presenting Systematic Review results include: 

  • The final review should mirror the protocol, indicating that it was followed.
  • Use supplementary files for additional information, including search details, critical appraisal tables, etc.  
  • The author responsible for each section of the review is responsible for writing up that section. 
  • All authors must be involved in writing up the review, and for reviewing it for intellectual content.
  • Every author must give final approval for publication.

Presentation and Writing Tools for Systematic Reviews

JBI SUMARI automatically generates appendices based on the information produced throughout the review process.  

The Evidence Review Accelerator (TERA) automatically produces the methods section based on information entered during the review process.

 

AI for Systematic Reviews - Presentation of Results

Generative AI Tools

While Generative AI tools can be useful for writing up information, for Systematic Reviews their use in writing should be limited to, at most: 

  • Improving grammar
  • Shortening word counts
  • Improving readability
  • Writing a plain language summary

NSLHD Libraries do not advise relying on generative AI to write up an entire Systematic Review paper. For more information on Generative AI, see our Generative AI and Chatbots guide.

NSLHD Libraries Webinar

AI Essentials Series: Writing Titles and Abstracts for Journal Articles with AI

This short 30 minute session is an introduction in using AI for academic writing. This session focuses on using AI to generate titles and abstracts, helping you to get your research to stand out.

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Acknowledgement and Citing of AI

Acknowledge your use of generative AI
If you use generative AI to help you generate ideas or plan your process, you should still acknowledge how you used the tool, even if you don’t include any AI generated content.

Provide a description of the AI tool used, what you did and the date accessed.

Save a copy of the transcript of your questions and responses from the generative AI tool. This can be done by taking a screenshot or saving a webpage file.

Example of acknowledgement:

I acknowledge the use of the [INSERT TOOL NAME] from [INSERT DEVELOPER NAME (INSERT LINK TO TOOL)]The prompts used include [list of prompts].  The following prompts were entered into [INSERT TOOL NAME] on [INSERT DATE]:


Citing generative AI for publication
Different publishers are taking different approaches to whether generative AI is allowed.

If you are writing for publication, you should check the publisher's information for authors.

For many referencing styles, there are no specific guidelines for citing ChatGPT or other generative AI. Content from generative AI is a nonrecoverable source as it can't be retrieved or linked to.

APA

In-text
Author of generative AI model, Year of version used

Example:

(OpenAI, 2022)

OpenAI (2022)

Reference list
Author of AI model used. (Year of AI model used). Name of AI model used (Version of AI model used) [Type or description of AI model used]. Web address of AI model used

Example:

OpenAI. (2022). ChatGPT (Dec 20 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/

The full transcript of a response can be included in an appendix or other supplementary materials.

Visit How to cite ChatGPT for more information.

See the blogpost for APA Style guidance

For many referencing styles, there are no specific guidelines for citing ChatGPT or other generative AI. Content from generative AI is a nonrecoverable source as it can't be retrieved or linked to.

MLA

In-text citation
(Short form Title of source) 

(“Describe the symbolism”) 

Work cited
“Title of source” prompt. Name of AI Tool, version, Company, Date content was generated, General web address of tool. 

“Describe the symbolism of the green light in the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald” prompt. ChatGPT, 13 Feb. version, OpenAI, 8 Mar. 2023, chat.openai.com/chat. 

See the blogpost for MLA Style guidance