The Policy Role of Systematic Reviews: Past, Present and Future

作者：Neal Haddaway, Andrew S. Pullin · 发表于：Springer Science Reviews · 年份：2014 · DOI：10.1007/s40362-014-0023-1 · 被引用次数：83 · 研究领域：Climate Change and Health Impacts、Disaster Management and Resilience、Delphi Technique in Research

Decisions in policy and practice should always be based on the best available evidence, but synthesising the evidence is often considered an insurmountable task. Reviews aim to summarise (synthesise) the evidence in a form that is readily digestible by decision makers. Systematic reviews (SRs) are emerging as an important tool and industry standard in reviewing evidence across many disciplines. SRs are transparent, repeatable and objective, reducing bias and maximising reliability. SRs are typically much less susceptible to bias than traditional reviews, many meta-analyses and other syntheses as a result of strict guidelines and highly detailed a priori methods. SR began in medicine and revolutionised medical policy and practice by pooling disparate studies and identifying common trends that may be missed by individual studies. SRs are now also used in public health and in environmental and social sciences to aid in decision making. SR in environmental management was adapted in response to a need for answers to controversial questions, questions where doubt existed about the reliability of the evidence and where the evidence base appeared to lack consensus. SR is a valuable tool for any researcher provided they assemble the right team and have the necessary support available. They can complement longer postgraduate study and involve the development of valuable transferable skills including searching, critical appraisal, quantitative and qualitative analysis, scientific writin...