Conducting a Systematic Review

Typically, you'll want at least three databases included in a systematic review search. You will find some reviews published across the literature with way more and way less than three. But, three is a good minimum. It allows for one multidisciplinary database, and two subject-focused databases. If you find yourself trying to decide between two databases to include as a third, just add a fourth. You'll never run into a problem with including too many sources of information. You might, however, run into the opposite problem of too few databases. 

Some of the tools we commonly think of as databases are not well suited to systematic reviews. This mostly has to do with the desire to create a reproducible process. 

Google Scholar - Google Scholar has far too much content and many search limitations that aren't often considered. Google Scholar cannot be searched in the same ways as traditional literature databases, meaning a specialized search would need to be developed. Google Scholar can be a good tool to use for supplementary searching or evaluating a search. We'll talk more about Google Scholar later on in this guide. 

OneSearch - OneSearch is a federated search tool with a lot of controls set up by individual libraries to suit individual academic communities and user groups. Thus, the number of results retrieved from a search at one institution is highly unlikely to produce the same number of results at another institution. 

Occasionally, it will be highly important for a search to be run through a database that Saint Mary's Libraries does not have access to. If you are considering trying to publish your systematic review, a journal may request that additional databases be included. The databases recommended above are all within the Saint Mary's Libraries umbrella, but if you need others talk to a librarian. Usually, other institutions around the city or region set permissions so that non-affiliated users can access the database if they have feet on the ground in the library.