Scoping and systematic reviews need to carefully documented and tracked, showing how many records were found, how many were included and excluded, and the reasons why records were excluded. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) is one common method. Please note, it has been updated in 2020.
A flow chart is usually used to document the process of searching and screening articles in reviews. PRISMA has modified flow charts for a number of review types and included sources. Because different types of reviews may require different reporting, there are a number of extensions for the PRISMA framework, including scoping reviews.
The following is an example taken from the PRISMA Flow Diagram page of a flow chart for a systematic review that includes only articles from databases. There are others for reviews that include grey literature and other sources, or for updated review articles.
