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Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences Resources (PHPB)

Institute of Medicine Standards

According to the Institute of Medicine Standards for Systematic Reviews, the systematic review team should work with a librarian during the following steps:

  • 3.1.1 - Work with a librarian trained in performing systematic reviews to plan the search strategy
  • 3.1.2 - Design the search strategy to address each key research question
  • 3.1.3 - Use a librarian to peer review the search strategy


A librarian can help throughout the planning, conducting, and reporting phases of your systematic review. With our specialized knowledge of the systematic review process, we can save you time and confusion by providing guidance on the process and the best practices for many of the steps along the way, as well as actively helping to develop and refine your topic, create systematic literature searches of all relevant databases, search the grey literature, and provide information for your PRISMA figure and Methods section.

Description from UNC Health Sciences Library