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Basic Literature Review
Examination of literature on a topic.
Critical Review
Extensive search and evaluation of the literature on a topic.
Scoping Review
Assesses the size and scope of research literature on a topic.
Narrative Review (also known as Traditional Literature Review)
Comprehensive review of a body of literature on a topic.
Narrative Synthesis (also known as Textual Narrative Synthesis)
Literature review targeting the highest quality evidence.
Integrative Review (also known as Integrative Synthesis)
Review of the literature on a topic to capture a diverse range of studies on a topic to understand a phenomenon or healthcare problem.
Mapping / Descriptive Reviews (also known as an Evidence Map, Systematic Map, or Systematic Mapping Review)
Maps and categorizes literature visually to answer a question on the breadth of a topic.
Umbrella Review
An aggregation of review literature into one document.
Review of Reviews
An aggregation of systematic reviews only.
Rapid Review: (also known as Rapid Evidence Synthesis)
Uses systematic review methods to critically appraise what is already known about a topic within the time constraints of the reviewer (often less than 5 weeks.
Systematic Review
An exhaustive, formal search of the literature seeking to answer a narrowly defined research question.
Qualitative Systematic Review (also known as Qualitative Evidence Synthesis)
Meta Analysis Review
Summative review of literature where statistical results from individual research studies are combined using statistical normalization to provide a precise quantitative answer to a focused research question.
Mixed Method Review (also known as Mixed Methods Synthesis)
Broad search of the literature that is methodologically inclusive.
Additional Literature Types