FREE TEMPLATE
Systematic-review protocol template
A first-draft protocol covering PICO, eligibility, sources, selection, extraction, bias, and synthesis. Download it, then start a free project when screening begins.
Name the population, intervention, comparator, and primary outcome.
PROSPERO or OSF URL. Register before screening if you will claim prospective registration.
Who screens, who extracts, who is the arbiter, who runs statistics.
Why this review now, and what previous reviews left unanswered.
List primary vs secondary, timing, and measurement.
Study designs, settings, language, date limits, and hard excludes.
Databases, trial registers, grey literature, citation chasing.
Who writes it, whether it is peer-reviewed, how updates are handled.
Dual review, software, and conflict process.
Form, piloting, and how discrepancies are recorded.
Tool (RoB 2, ROBINS-I, QUADAS-2) and how judgements feed synthesis.
Meta-analysis vs narrative, effect measure, heterogeneity, subgroups.
Methods write-up: Protocol and PICO methods guide
What this template is for
It follows the topics in PRISMA-P: title, registration, team, rationale, eligibility, information sources, search, selection, extraction, risk of bias, and synthesis. It is a working draft, not a substitute for PROSPERO fields or a journal-specific protocol.
Register before screening if you will describe the review as prospectively registered. EvidenceFlow can store the research question and PICO on the project so screening uses the same criteria you wrote here.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is this the official PRISMA-P checklist?+
It covers the same planning topics. For submission, complete the current PRISMA-P checklist and your registry's form (PROSPERO, OSF, or similar).
Do I need to pay to use this?+
No. The template and Markdown download run locally. Creating an EvidenceFlow project for screening and extraction is also free on the core workflow.
Should students register on PROSPERO?+
If the review is intended for publication and meets PROSPERO's eligibility, register before screening. Course-only exercises often stay as a local protocol.
Can I change the protocol later?+
Yes, but log amendments with a date and reason. Unlogged changes after seeing the results undermine the review.
Paste this PICO into a free EvidenceFlow project and keep screening decisions on the same criteria — no payment for import, manual screening, extraction, or PRISMA reporting.
Start free project