How to Conduct a PRISMA-Compliant Systematic Literature Review

Table of Contents

1. The PRISMA 2020 Statement Explained
2. Protocol Registration & PICO Framework
3. Multi-Database Search String Construction
4. The 4-Phase PRISMA Flow Diagram
5. Risk of Bias Appraisal & Synthesis
6. Journal Submission Checklist

1. The PRISMA 2020 Statement Explained

The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 statement is the gold standard methodology for publishing systematic literature reviews across medicine, engineering, business, and social sciences. Comprising a 27-item checklist and a 4-phase flow diagram, PRISMA ensures reviews are fully transparent, methodologically reproducible, and auditable.

2. Protocol Registration & PICO Framework

A rigorous systematic review begins with framing unambiguous research questions using structured frameworks:

PICO / PICOS: Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, Study Design (Health & Sciences).
CIMO: Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcome (Management & Social Sciences).
SPIDER: Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type (Qualitative & Mixed Methods).

3. Multi-Database Search String Construction

Searches must be executed across at least 3 major scholarly indexing databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, or ScienceDirect). Search strings must combine MeSH terms, Boolean operators, truncation asterisks, and field tags:

TITLE-ABS-KEY(("machine learning" OR "deep neural network*") AND ("predictive maintenance" OR "fault diagnosis") AND ("wind turbine*" OR "renewable energy"))

4. The 4-Phase PRISMA Flow Diagram

The core visual deliverable of an SLR is the PRISMA Flow Diagram, tracking:

Identification: Total records discovered across all databases + removal of duplicates.
Screening: Titles and abstracts screened against explicit inclusion/exclusion criteria.
Eligibility: Full-text articles retrieved and evaluated, with explicit reasons for each excluded study documented.
Included: Final corpus of studies subjected to qualitative synthesis or quantitative meta-analysis.

5. Risk of Bias Appraisal & Synthesis

Every included study must undergo quality appraisal using standardized tools (e.g., Cochrane RoB 2, ROBINS-I, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, or CASP). Synthesize findings using thematic analysis, vote counting, or bibliometric network maps (VOSviewer / CiteSpace).

6. Journal Submission Checklist

Top-tier Q1 journals expect the completed 27-item PRISMA Checklist submitted as supplementary material, alongside full search history strings for every database queried.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the primary difference between a narrative literature review and a systematic literature review?

A narrative review is a descriptive overview prone to author selection bias. A systematic literature review (SLR) follows a predefined, reproducible protocol, documents every inclusion/exclusion step, evaluates study quality, and synthesizes findings according to rigorous PRISMA reporting norms.

Is PROSPERO protocol registration mandatory for non-medical reviews?

While PROSPERO primarily registers systematic reviews with health and biomedical outcomes, non-medical systematic reviews (management, education, computer science) can register protocols on the Open Science Framework (OSF) to establish transparency and prevent duplicate work.

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