Systematic Literature Review: Follow up with reference lists

Following your database and grey literature searches, you can review the reference lists of all the papers you found and decide which will be included in the review. The review should also include any articles from their reference lists that fit your inclusion criteria. Please note that not every article you find in your database search should be included; this should only be done for the included papers (those that meet your inclusion criteria after screening).

The Automated Systematic Search Deduplicator (ASySD) is an open-source tool and R package designed to automatically identify and remove duplicate citations generated from multiple databases during systematic literature reviews. Here is a tutorial on the ASySD.

1. Gather relevant studies: You can start by conducting your primary search using electronic databases and other relevant sources. Once you have a collection of potentially relevant studies, prioritize them based on your inclusion criteria.
2. Review reference lists: Focus on the references of the most relevant studies you identified earlier. Pay close attention to studies directly related to your research topic and those published in reputable journals.
3. Identify potentially relevant studies: Could you scan the reference lists for titles, abstracts, and keywords that align with your research question and inclusion criteria? Look for studies that weren't captured in your initial search strategy.
4. Screen and assess: Don't automatically include studies based solely on the reference list. Could you eliminate the full text of the potentially relevant studies and evaluate them against your predetermined inclusion criteria? You can apply the same rigorous screening process to the studies identified through your primary search.
5. Manage duplicates: You can use reference management software to efficiently identify and remove duplicates encountered during the process.