Systematic Literature Searching

The defining feature of a systematic review is a search so thorough and transparent that anyone could reproduce it. This level teaches you to translate your question into a structured search across the major databases, capture regional and grey-literature evidence others miss, and document every step for your PRISMA flow.

Who this level is for

Anyone running the search for a review: researchers, clinicians, and students. Recommended after Level 1.

What you'll learn

• The information sources that matter for global-health reviews: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, regional databases and trial registries
• How to turn a PICO into search concepts, synonyms and controlled vocabulary (MeSH and Emtree)
• Boolean logic (AND, OR, NOT) and how to combine concept groups without losing studies
• How to build a structured PubMed search, then adapt it for Embase and other databases
• Why regional sources such as the African Index Medicus and local journals matter, and how to include LMIC evidence
• How to search grey literature and trial registries for unpublished and ongoing studies
• How to document the search and start the PRISMA flow so it is fully reproducible

You finish with: A documented, reproducible search + the start of your PRISMA flow.