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There are multiple ways of searching for Systematic Reviews in Health and Medicine, and if you are producing a systematic review the first step is always to search for previously published reviews. This will ensure that you are producing a unique work, provide similar reviews you can read for guidance on methodology and also retrieve older but very similar reviews you can update.

A basic strategy for searching for Systematic Reviews

• In the database you are searching (For example MEDLINE Complete), use the search string (your search terms) AND ("systematic review" OR metaanalysis OR "meta-analysis" OR "meta analysis") to find any published systematic reviews. You can add "Rapid Review*" OR "umbrella review*" if you wish to include these. 

• Always recommended is a search through Cochrane Library. The earlier methods usually retrieve most systematic reviews including Cochrane, but you may retrieve a very recently produced systematic review that may not be indexed in MEDLINE 

• You may also wish to search for prospective Systematic Reviews not yet completed, and this is achieved through a PROSPERO search 

This should provide adequate recall of Systematic Reviews. Please contact the Faculty Librarian team for any further advice on literature searching.