Systematic Reviews: Safeguarding Evidence in the Age of AI
Universitywide
A 2026 study published in BMJ Open suggests that AI chatbots are providing problematic answers to medical questions nearly 50 percent of the time. This issue, along with the wide adoption of chatbots, raises the risk of misinformation spreading and doing harm. As a counterbalance, systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses will become increasingly important. Their primary function is to acquire and evaluate the best available evidence on a given topic.
Systematic reviews are quickly becoming a popular research project among faculty and students at colleges and universities. They are often quoted in newspapers and websites and have a high impact on their fields and popular discourse. The New York Times drew heavily from a systematic review in their article on the efficacy of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease. The Guardian also quoted a systematic review in their article on the impact of ultra processed food on health. Systematic reviews are most popular in the health sciences, but they are also being conducted in several fields, from sociology to engineering.
A systematic review differs from a narrative or traditional literature review in that it follows a rigorous and structured methodology with a well-defined, transparent, and replicable process. Systematic reviews identify, evaluate, and synthesize the findings of all relevant individual studies related to a research question.
What This Means for Researchers
Systematic reviews build coherent conclusions from the noise of research. It is a type of evidence synthesis, which also includes scoping reviews, rapid reviews, meta-analysis, and many others. A well-done systematic review can take eight months to a year to complete.
The methodology for conducting a systematic review is broken down into nine steps:
- Formulating a research question
- Establishing a team
- Creating a protocol
- Searching databases
- Screening studies
- Extracting data
- Assessing bias
- Synthesizing data
- Interpreting results
Formulating the research question and developing the protocol can take one to two months, and then the searches take another month. Searches can retrieve thousands of results that need to be screened in a blinded, multiphase process with no fewer than three team members. Then the data needs to be extracted, synthesized, and analyzed. The final stage is preparing a manuscript for publication. The process can go more quickly if the systematic review is the only project. In most cases, they are one of many projects.
Not all systematic reviews are created equally. In fact, many articles claim to be systematic reviews but are barely more rigorous than a narrative review, especially if they don’t include a librarian in the process.
How Rutgers University Libraries Can Help
Systematic reviews with a librarian as a collaborator or consultant reduce the risk of bias and improve study quality. Librarians specialize in information and information retrieval and can develop searches to maximize the precision and accuracy of results. Librarians are also experts in systematic review methodology; they work as project managers and guide researchers through the process. Librarians that specialize in systematic reviews stay current on tools and techniques to improve the efficiency and efficacy of systematic reviews. These include breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and new information resources.
Whether you need assistance formulating a research question, choosing an appropriate review methodology, or developing an effective search strategy, the Libraries can help. We provide training and consultation to help researchers design rigorous, transparent, and reproducible evidence synthesis projects.
Here are three things you can do to benefit from librarian expertise ahead of your next systematic review:
1 - Browse our research guides
If you would like to learn more about how to conduct a systematic review, consult our guide Systematic Reviews and Other Evidence Syntheses.
2 - Register for a workshop
Register to attend our online workshop Developing Protocols for Evidence Synthesis Projects on May 29.
3 - Schedule a consultation
Email ask_research@libraries.rutgers.edu to schedule a consultation with a library specialist about your next evidence synthesis project.