An increasing number of systematic reviews (SysRev) are being published in health sciences and medicine; however, many are poorly conducted or reported.Strategies are needed to help reduce this avoidable waste in research . Systematic reviews can help decision makers interpret the deluge of published biomedical literature. However, a SysRev or scoping review may be of limited use if the methods used to conduct them are flawed, or if reporting is incomplete.At each stage during the systematic or scoping review cycle, different challenges can arise, especially for a novice researcher. All knowledge syntheses, once past the stage of question formulation, begin with the literature search. Librarians are in a strategic position to uncover issues regarding a researcher’slevel of preparedness in conducting these types of studies. From this vantage point, librarians can have a significant impact by teaching researchers about practices to properly report findings, as well as by raising awareness about which methodology might be more appropriate for their research question. Research waste is a growing concern, and librariansare part of the answer in the role they play as advocates for research integrity and transparency. This scoping review would be the first to cover this topic in a comprehensive, structured and methodologically rigorous way. Results would be of interest to librarians, researchers, educators and the wider research community in health sciences and medicine.
Evaluation of a peer mentoring program for early career gerontological nursing faculty and its potential for application to other fields in nursing and health sciences