Planning and conducting a systematic review can be a considerably time intensive research project.
How long the overall review will take depends on the scope of the review, size and availability of the review team.
A well-designed systematic review may take a year or more to complete.
The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions gives the following table indicating the estimated time for each element of a systematic review.
|
Month |
Activity |
|
1 - 2 |
Preparation of protocol |
|
3 - 8 |
Searches for published and unpublished studies |
|
2 - 3 |
Pilot test of eligibility criteria |
|
3 - 8 |
Inclusion assessments |
|
3 |
Pilot test 'Risk of bias' assessment |
|
3 - 10 |
Validity assessments |
|
3 |
Pilot test of data collection |
|
3 - 10 |
Data collection |
|
3 - 10 |
Data entry |
|
5 - 11 |
Follow up of missing information |
|
8 - 10 |
Analysis |
|
1 - 11 |
Preparation of review report |
|
12 - |
Keeping the review up-to-date |