Clear reporting in systematic reviews is essential.
It provides readers with the necessary information to form their own views about how well the review has been conducted and how applicable the findings are to their own studies. It also makes the research reproducible – this is one of the key purposes of any systematic review.
The PRISMA statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analysis) helps authors to report a wide array of systematic reviews to assess the benefits and harms of an intervention.
Prisma focuses on ways in which authors can ensure the transparent and complete reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
The PRISMA 2020 statement comprises a checklist addressing the introduction, methods, results, and discussion sections of a systematic review report.
The PRISMA 2020 statement can be viewed at http://prisma-statement.org/documents/PRISMA_2020_checklist.pdf The items on this list can be checked off by the Systematic Review Team as they are completed.
Prisma Checklist (2020) accessible at http://prisma-statement.org/documents/PRISMA_2020_checklist.pdf
The PRISMA Statement also includes a flowchart http://prisma-statement.org/prismastatement/flowdiagram.aspx
This depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a systematic review. It maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions.
Different templates are available depending on the type of review (new or updated) and sources used to identify studies.
