How to write a systematic review for a medical journal in 8 simple steps

2 min readNov 23, 2021

Read more @ benjaminpapadakis.com

Create the first draft

Figure out search terms and use them in PubMed, Google Scholar, and similar search engines. Track date of searches and number of results.
Select articles of search results based on the title. Track number of selected articles.
Filter articles based on abstract, language, duplication, and other criteria of your choice. Track selected articles, rejected articles, and reasons for rejection.
Read through articles in random order and isolate sentences of value and importance in logical groupings. E.g. Epidemiology, Clinical findings, Imaging, Pathophysiology, Management.
Paraphrase grouped sentences.
Add important filler information about the topic from respective specialty textbooks. E.g. definitions, standard symptoms, standard treatment protocols, etc.
Submit your article to journals of your choice until you receive a positive answer.
Make the necessary corrections and resubmit until the article is accepted.

* You can create a draft abstract before writing the whole paper. After the article selection, create a summary of all the abstracts you have found based on a standard abstract structure and base on the additional information you want to include.
You can submit this draft abstract to conferences as a poster
You can create the poster from the abstract information
Follow the Prisma checklist ( www.prisma-statement.org/ )