Methods for Research Evidence Synthesis: The Scoping Review Approach

Research evidence synthesis involves the aggregation of available information using well-defined and transparent methods to search, summarize, and interpret a body of literature, frequently following a systematic review approach. A scoping review is a relatively new approach to evidence synthesis and differs from systematic reviews in its purpose and aims.1 The purpose of a scoping review is to provide an overview of the available research evidence without producing a summary answer to a discrete research question.2 Scoping reviews can be useful for answering broad questions, such as “What information has been presented on this topic in the literature?” and for gathering and assessing information prior to conducting a systematic review.1 In this issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, Fan et al. used a scoping review to identify information available in the literature on contributors to loss and theft of controlled drugs in hospitals and the safeguards that have been suggested to address these diversions.3 The authors followed Arksey and O’Malley’s framework for scoping reviews and the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist in reporting findings.2,4