Systematic Review Reporting - Writing concisely and precisely
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Professional Medical Publications
Materia
Systematic review Reporting Integrity
Date
2023-04Referencia bibliográfica
Chien PFW, Khan KS. Systematic Review Reporting - Writing concisely and precisely. Pak J Med Sci. 2023;39(2):317-322. doi: [https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.39.2.7428]
Sponsorship
Spanish GovernmentAbstract
Systematic reviews rank at the top of the evidence hierarchy. Concise writing implies drafting the systematic review
article succinctly, i.e. using as few words to express as full an extent of the research effort as possible. Precise writing
means drafting the text with accuracy especially with respect to the methodological and statistical aspects. The
Abstract ought to be succinct and structured to allow for editors, peer reviewers and readers to get the gist of the key
aspects of the systematic review with a quick read. The readership needs to be able to critically appraisal systematic
reviews for their internal and external validity rapidly. The Abstract also needs to be standalone, representing an
independent summary that can be fully understood without the need for reading the full paper. The standard structure
of the main text of a scientific article called IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) applies equally to
systematic reviews in the same way as it does to any other kinds of research manuscripts whether related to laboratory
experiments or clinical trials. Restricting the word count limits to those imposed by journals may at first seem difficult,
even unfair, to systematic reviewers. However, with the availability of online appendices to transparently and fully
report the details of the methods, results and other aspects of the work undertaken allows for a succinct print or PDF
article. Writing a shorter manuscript is more effortful than writing a longer report. This commentary is aimed at novice
systematic reviewers to help them learn the written and unwritten writing rules in order to assist them in producing
impactful publications to support evidence-based medicine.