Subject Guides: Reviewing the literature: Scoping reviews

Scoping reviews

Scoping reviews focus on mapping the breadth and nature of research carried out on a topic of interest (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005; Grant & Booth, 2009; Levac, Colquhoun, & O'Brien, 2010; Munn et al., 2018). The quality of the research carried out is not generally evaluated (Arksey & O'Malley, 2005; Peters et al., 2015).

What is a scoping review?

According to Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and Munn et al. (2018) depending on the purpose of your research a scoping review might be carried out to:

Identify and examine the extent of research carried out
Explore how the research was carried on a topic
Collate and report on research findings
Clarify key concepts
Identify a gap in knowledge
Determine the value of carrying out a systematic review

Process for conducting a scoping review:

Identify research question/s, aims, and purpose
Identify relevant studies
Select relevant studies
Charting the data found
Collate, summarise and report results (Ansar et al., 2020; Arksey & O'Malley, 2005; Levac et al., 2010).

Resources

Cochrane Review webinar series presented by Dr. Andrea C. Tricco and Kafayat Oboirien:

Scoping reviews: What they are and how you can do them

Includes links to downloadable slides from the webinar series.

References

Ansar, A., Lewis, V., McDonald, C., Liu, C., & Rahman, M. A. (2020). Defining timeliness in care for patients with lung cancer: Protocol for a scoping review. BMJ Open, 10(11), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039660

Arksey, H., & O'Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: Towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19-32. doi:10.1080/1364557032000119616

Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91-108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x

Levac, D., Colquhoun, H., & O'Brien, K. K. (2010). Scoping studies: Advancing the methodology. Implementation Science, 5(1), 69-69. doi:10.1186/1748-5908-5-69

Munn, Z., Peters, M. D. J., Stern, C., Tufanaru, C., McArthur, A., & Aromataris, E. (2018). Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 18(1), 143-143. doi:10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x

Peters, M. D. J., Godfrey, C. M., Khalil, H., McInerney, P., Parker, D., & Soares, C. B. (2015). Guidance for conducting systematic scoping reviews. International Journal of Evidence-based Healthcare, 13(3), 141-146. doi:10.1097/XEB.0000000000000050

Peters, M. D. J., Marnie, C., Tricco, A. C., Pollock, D., Munn, Z., Alexander, L., McInerney, P., Godfrey, C., & Khalil, H. (2020). Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews. JBI evidence synthesis, 18(10), 2119-2126.https://doi.org/10.11124/JBIES-20-00167