PRISMA-ScR Guidelines
The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guides the conduct of Scoping Reviews.
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines recommend the use of a flow diagram to illustrate the study selection process. A Word version of the diagram may be downloaded from: https://www.prisma-statement.org/prisma-2020-flow-diagram.
A flow diagram typically shows data representing the following steps:
- Identification of studies: The number of studies identified from various sources, such as electronic databases, hand searching, and reference lists.
- Screening of studies: The number of identified studies via title and abstract screening to determine whether they meet the inclusion criteria for the review.
- Assessment of full text articles: Deeper reading of the full text of studies that were deemed possibly eligible during the screening stage.
- Data extraction: This step involves extracting relevant data from the included studies.
- Synthesis of data: This step involves summarizing the findings of the included studies.
Example of a PRISMA Flow Diagram:
