Systematic search

How it is used

Common in literature reviews and evidence-based academic writing. It often appears with databases, inclusion criteria, screening, and reproducibility.

Example sentences

1. In the methods chapter, we described a systematic search of three databases using date limits and predefined inclusion criteria.

   Here, the term refers to an organized source-finding process that follows stated rules, rather than an informal search for convenient studies.

2. The reviewer asked whether our systematic search included unpublished dissertations or only peer-reviewed journal articles.

   In this example, the term highlights the scope of the search and shows that its coverage must be reported clearly and checked.

Common collocations

• systematic search protocol
• systematic search process
• conduct a systematic search

Related terms

• literature reviewA critical summary of what has already been published on a topic, showing the main ideas, debates and gaps that a new study responds to.
• methodologyThe overall approach and reasoning behind how a study is done, including the choice of design, methods, data and analysis, and the reasons for those choices.

More terms: Literature Review

• literature
• research gap
• theoretical framework
• seminal
• synthesize
• draw on
• build on
• primary source
• secondary source
• systematic review
• database
• meta-analysis