Back to: Report Your Findings

Critique

Critique your systematic review’s strengths and limitations. In particular:

Strength of evidence, were these studies at risk of bias or was the evidence observational or experimental?

Availability of evidence, did you need a larger sample of studies?

Potential reporting and publication bias

Presence of bias

You might think the limitations of your research are too obvious to mention. Or maybe you don’t want to draw attention to them. But there’s a greater harm in leaving out your limitations. If they’re missing, reviewers and readers will either assume you didn’t know about them, or worse, you’re trying to keep them secret.

When you’re open about these limitations, your reviewers and readers know you’re both knowledgeable and transparent.