Series Editors: Professor Dawid Pieper (Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane) and Professor Hans Lund (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences)
Systematic Reviews invites you to submit to our new thematic series ‘The role of systematic reviews in evidence-based research’.
Over the last two to three decades, meta-research has shown a high number of redundant and unnecessary studies being published. A possible reason could be that researchers haven’t systematically and transparently identified and used earlier similar studies to inform the justification and design of new studies, or to place new results in the context of existing evidence. The best way to avoid redundant research would be to identify or prepare a systematic review of earlier similar studies and use this systematic review to justify and inform the design of a new study, and to place new results in context. This process is called evidence-based research (EBR).
However, a systematic collection and analysis of existing meta-research related to the problem of redundant research, clearly indicates a need for further research characterizing the problem, calculating the prevalence and consequences of redundancy within different medical specialties, developing a useful and practical way to avoid redundancy and to implement the EBR approach in clinical research practice.
In this series, the Editors invite authors to submit articles that use systematic reviews in one form or another and/or have systematic reviews as a topic in relation to the concept of evidence-based research. Appropriate articles could use evidence syntheses as a method, evaluate the use of systematic reviews for justifying and designing new studies and when placing new results in the context of existing evidence, and describe or examine challenges related to the preparation of systematic reviews that will specifically affect researchers when implementing the EBR approach. Submissions can include research articles, systematic reviews, methodology and commentaries; we are not including protocols in this series.
Manuscripts should be formatted according to our submission guidelines and submitted via the online submission system. In the submission system please make sure the correct collection title is chosen on the additional information tab. Please also indicate clearly in the covering letter that the manuscript is to be considered for the ‘The role of systematic reviews in evidence-based research’ series.
For further information, please use the contact us email on the journal website.