Evidence Synthesis Services
Supporting researchers at Virginia Tech with formal research and knowledge syntheses methods including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and more.
What is Evidence Synthesis?
Evidence synthesis describes a suite of research methods used to answer a clearly stated research question by synthesizing all available evidence through a highly structured, reproducible process. Some of the most commonly recognized evidence synthesis methods are systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews.
Learn more about our team members, ongoing collaborations, efforts in the field, and publications below.
How can ESS help you?
We provide tailored support for researchers, guides, and training & workshops about evidence synthesis research methods including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews.
Guides curated by our expert Evidence Synthesis Librarians to help novice and experienced teams navigate evidence synthesis processes.
We offer workshops on evidence synthesis and evidence synthesis related topics throughout the year and can provide instruction sessions upon request.
Tailored Support
We are happy to serve as a consultant or co-author on your evidence synthesis review. More information about our service offerings is available below.
Regular Workshops
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Deep Dive
Spend four days learning and practicing skills for conducting systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses. (Intended audience has some familiarity and aims to start their own review in the near future.)
Additional Topics
By request, the ESS team provides 1-2 hours of in-class instruction tailored to a specific audience. Classes we can offer include:
- Evidence Synthesis Methods Overview
- Comprehensive Searching
- How to Write a Protocol
- Planning and Conducting Data Extraction
- Assessing Risk of Bias and Study Validity
- Data Management for Evidence Synthesis
- Using Covidence for Literature Reviews
We are here to support you in your evidence synthesis review! To request support from one of our experienced team members, please review our levels of support and fill out our consultation request form.
Levels of Support
We offer two levels of evidence synthesis support to researchers in all departments at Virginia Tech. Our availability may vary, so please reach out for an initial meeting as early as you can.
Level 1: Consultant
As a consultant, we provide 4-8 hours of support throughout the review process. At this level, we can:
- Introduce you to methodological guidelines and resources.
- Recommend databases, protocol registration platforms, and review management software.
- Suggest edits for your search strategy and help troubleshoot as necessary.
- Help identify appropriate risk of bias assessment tools and data extraction approaches.
Consultant support requires that the librarian is acknowledged in the final manuscript.
Level 2: Co-Author
As a co-author, we will join your team as a full collaborator for the duration of your review. We can provide substantive hands-on support and will:
- Provide ongoing methodological guidance and resources.
- Contribute to protocol development.
- Set up the project in Covidence (or alternative review management tool) and provide training.
- Develop the comprehensive search strategy (with input from the team), run the searches, and manage the results.
- Assist with determining access to full text of hard-to-find citations.
- Help identify appropriate risk of bias tools assessment and data extraction approaches.
- Write a portion of the final manuscript specific to searching.
Co-author support requires that the librarian is included as an author on the final manuscript and all related outputs. As an author, the librarian will contribute to the search related sections of the manuscript and provide supplemental documentation in compliance with established reporting guidelines. The librarian may also contribute to additional sections, depending on their involvement.
If you’re not familiar with the term “evidence synthesis", some of the most commonly recognized evidence synthesis methods are systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews. These kinds of reviews are an integral part of the research-to-action or knowledge-translation process. The results from evidence syntheses inform policy, practice, and future research direction.
Evidence Synthesis Process
Evidence synthesis research methods require a structured process from planning to dissemination. The five key steps are planning, retrieval, appraisal, synthesis, and manuscript drafting. Throughout the process, decisions should be made by two or more individuals and a clear procedure for resolving conflicts should be established before beginning the review.
Get Started
- Form a team
- Determine whether there are existing reviews on your topic
- Select the methods and reporting guidelines appropriate for your scope
Define Scope
- Establish clear research question(s)
- Define your eligibility criteria
- Identify example studies or other evidence you expect to include
- Confirm a systematic review, published or in-progress, has not already addressed your research question
Develop a Protocol
- Draft an initial protocol
- Pilot and, as necessary, revise the protocol
- Register or publish the protocol
- Develop a comprehensive search strategy
- Run searches in selected academic databases and grey literature sources
- Screen all unique records to select relevant records using pre-determined eligibility criteria:
- First, reading only titles and abstracts
- Second, reading the full text of all remaining studies
- Extract data from all relevant studies using a consistent form to extract the same data items from all studies
- Assess risk of bias of all relevant studies using either an existing or modified appraisal tool for the study designs you include in your review (if applicable).
- Synthesize qualitative findings
- Conduct a meta-analysis (if appropriate)
- Write the manuscript in accordance with your selected reporting guideline
- Publish the report
- Make supplemental material available
The Evidence Synthesis Services (ESS) team supports researchers at Virginia Tech in the production of high-quality systematic reviews, meta-analyses, scoping reviews, and other formal research and knowledge syntheses methods across disciplines.
The kinds of reviews we support are commonly conducted as original research. In contrast to a traditional literature review, these methods answer a clearly defined research question through a rigorous process used to increase the validity and reliability of resultant findings. Rigor and transparency are fundamental as these methods are used to inform policy, practice, and future research.
Cozette Comer
Assistant Director, Evidence Synthesis Services
Liaison for Statistics, Computational Modeling and Data Analytics, and the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science
Leila Ledbetter
Evidence Synthesis Information Scientist
Natasha Bishop
Evidence Synthesis Information Scientist
Advisory Personnel
Kiri DeBose
Director, Health Sciences Libraries
Head, Veterinary Medicine Library & Liaison to Animal Sciences
Liaison for Veterinary Medicine, Animal & Poultry Sciences, Dairy Science, Population Health Sciences, and Medicine (outside VTCSOM)
Virginia (Ginny) Pannabecker
Assistant Dean, AI Strategy and Planning and Library Assessment
Our Scholarship
We are active in contributing to the field of evidence synthesis through our own research and scholarship related to how we do evidence synthesis and provide services. For a complete list of evidence synthesis reviews we’ve co-authored, please visit our individual profiles linked in the "Our Team" section.
Ongoing Projects
Virginia Tech University Libraries will plan an investigation of the auditability of Large Language Models for relevance screening in evidence synthesis. This project will run iterative experiments to improve the accuracy and auditability of the artificial intelligence-assisted screening workflow. The project will incorporate the feedback from evidence synthesis library professionals across the nation and will produce feasibility findings, prototype workflows, and implementation guidance that libraries can use to assess how artificial intelligence-assisted screening can be incorporated into evidence synthesis services while preserving established methodological standards. Deliverables include an artificial intelligence-enabled evidence synthesis prototype; an instruction manual; and a report.
Guidelines for Evidence Synthesis
Abstract
This guide outlines general issues in searching for studies; describes the main sources of potential studies; and discusses how to plan the search process, design, and carry out search strategies, manage references found during the search process and document and report the search process.
Citation
MacDonald, H., Comer, C., Foster, M., Labelle, P., Marsalis, S., Nyhan, K., Premji, Z., Rogers, M., Splenda, R., Stansfield, C., Young, S. (2024). Searching for Studies: A Guide to Information Retrieval for Campbell Review. Campbell Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1433
Abstract
Literature searches underlie the foundations of systematic reviews and related review types. Yet, the literature searching component of systematic reviews and related review types is often poorly reported. Guidance for literature search reporting has been diverse, and, in many cases, does not offer enough detail to authors who need more specific information about reporting search methods and information sources in a clear, reproducible way. This document presents the PRISMA-S (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses literature search extension) checklist, and explanation and elaboration.
Citation
Rethlefsen, M.L., Kirtley, S., Waffenschmidt, S. et al.* PRISMA-S: an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews. Syst Rev 10, 39 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01542-z
*Ginny Pannabecker contributed as a member of the PRISMA-S Group, which is listed as a co-author.
Selected Contributions to the Field
Kocher, M., Riegelman, A., Kibbee, M., Bostrom, M., Marsalis, S., Young, S., Premiji, Z., Bahureksa, L., Bishop, N., Chimwaza, G., Comer, C., & DiGiovine, E. (2026). The Evidence Synthesis Institute: Building a High Impact Training Program and Supportive Community for an Emergent Area of Librarianship. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. https://doi.org/10.18438/eblip30736.
Over, S. & Comer, C. (2024). Constructing Consistent Comprehensive Searches in Large Engineering Databases – Tips and Recommendations for Literature Reviews. ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition. https://peer.asee.org/47068.
Fostering Engagement Across the Field
Library Evidence Synthesis Services Symposium (LESSS)
We co-founded the LESSS in 2024 out of a desire to connect all evidence synthesis service providers, regardless of discipline, years of experience, or professional development budget.
Each individual supporting evidence synthesis has knowledge to share, and it is our hope that this event will allow this diverse community of professionals to learn from and support one another.
*Page Under Construction. -BB & KEM ☺