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Services / Systematic reviews

Systematic review services

All prices are custom to the service. Fees and timelines are set for each project once the question has been scoped and its feasibility checked, so the quote reflects the evidence that actually exists.

Meridian Research Consultancy conducts systematic reviews for health, medical and exercise science research, from the research question and registered protocol to a manuscript that is ready for peer review.

Not every review should end in a meta-analysis. When the studies differ too much in population, intervention or outcome to pool, a narrative synthesis is the correct method rather than a fallback, and it is reported to SWiM (Synthesis Without Meta-analysis) so that it is as transparent and reproducible as a pooled estimate. Which synthesis the review will use is decided and stated in the protocol, before the search.

What we deliver

  • The review type chosen before the search: narrative synthesis, SWiM, or meta-analysis where pooling is justified
  • A PICO(S) framework with operational definitions, and primary and secondary outcomes ranked in advance
  • A protocol registered on PROSPERO or INPLASY before the final search, with a clause for documenting any deviation
  • A search across three or more databases chosen for the discipline, validated against known eligible papers, plus trial registries and grey literature
  • Two independent reviewers at both screening stages, with a calibration round, inter-rater agreement and a reason for every full-text exclusion
  • Risk of bias judged domain by domain with the tool that matches the design: RoB 2, ROBINS-I, MMAT or PEDro
  • Narrative synthesis reported to the SWiM items: how studies were grouped, the standardised metric, the synthesis method, and the specific reason pooling was not appropriate
  • GRADE certainty of evidence, a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram and checklist, and point-by-point responses in peer review

How a project runs

  1. Topic and protocol. The research question (PICO) is confirmed, feasibility is checked, and a publication-ready protocol is written and registered.
  2. Analysis and drafting. Systematic search, screening, data extraction and statistical analysis, including network meta-analysis or meta-regression, then the full manuscript.
  3. Review and refinement. You review the draft, and revisions continue without limit until it is ready for submission.
  4. Submission and peer review. Cover letter and submission support, then additional analyses and point-by-point responses to reviewers until a decision.

The full process, including how rejection is handled

Scope and fees

A systematic review is Tier 1 when the synthesis is narrative and reported to SWiM, and Tier 2 when the studies can be pooled in a meta-analysis. Which one applies is decided in the protocol.

All prices are custom to the service. Fees and timelines are set for each project once the question has been scoped and its feasibility checked, so the quote reflects the evidence that actually exists.

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Request a quote

All prices are custom to the service. Tell us about the project and we will reply with a quote.

Method notes on systematic reviews