Library Guides: Nursing: Systematic Review vs. Literature Review

Know the Difference! Systematic Review vs. Literature Review

It is common to confuse systematic and literature reviews as both are used to provide a summary of the existent literature or research on a specific topic. Even with this common ground, both types vary significantly. Please review the following chart (and its corresponding poster linked below) for the detailed explanation of each as well as the differences between each type of review.

Systematic vs. Literature Review
	Systematic Review	Literature Review
Definition	High-level overview of primary research on a focused question that identifies, selects, synthesizes, and appraises all high quality research evidence relevant to that question	Qualitatively summarizes evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies
Goals	Answers a focused clinical question Eliminate bias	Provide summary or overview of topic
Question	Clearly defined and answerable clinical question Recommend using PICO as a guide	Can be a general topic or a specific question
Components	Pre-specified eligibility criteria Systematic search strategy Assessment of the validity of findings Interpretation and presentation of results Reference list	Introduction Methods Discussion Conclusion Reference list
Number of Authors	Three or more	One or more
Timeline	Months to years Average eighteen months	Weeks to months
Requirement	Thorough knowledge of topic Perform searches of all relevant databases Statistical analysis resources (for meta-analysis)	Understanding of topic Perform searches of one or more databases
Value	Connects practicing clinicians to high quality evidence Supports evidence-based practice	Provides summary of literature on the topic

What's in a name? The difference between a Systematic Review and a Literature Review, and why it matters
by Lynn Kysh, MLIS, University of Southern California - Norris Medical Library