Scoping Reviews, Rapid Reviews, and Living Reviews

The traditional systematic review has an important place in the body of evidence. However, there are some questions or situations for which different solutions are needed. This chapter examines three of these: scoping reviews which are used to determine the scope or extent of a body of literature on a particular topic; rapid reviews which aim to be systematic but shorten or bypass some states to speed-up the process; and living reviews which are longer-term or on-going. Each of these has a place, but they use specific methods which need to be used, and limitations that need to be understood. Importantly, these should not be seen as a short-cut or cheaper option to undertaking a full systematic review. This chapter examines these methods, highlighting the key differences between them and how they might be undertaken and used in practice.