Location of Studies
You may have chosen to use a specific country or region as one of your inclusion/exclusion criteria or you might want global research in your systematic review. You will need to think about how you will ensure that the results of your search represents the region you want to cover.
The above map, produced in 2016, illustrates how the research indexed in Web of Science is weighted towards the Global North. It is likely that you will encounter a similar spread of research in other major databases too. If the region you have chosen is in the Global South or you want to show a global research picture try exploring some of the databases below in your scoping searches. You could also contact your subject librarian for further guidance.
Location Specific Resources
- African Journal Archive This link opens in a new window
African journal literature originating from a wide base of publishers and societies on the African continent.
- SciELO Citation Index on Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Science, social science, and arts and humanities research in published in open access journals from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and South Africa.
- China Academic Journals via CNKI This link opens in a new window
Please note: full text downloads of patents is temporarily suspended from April 2023.This is due to Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC) imposing new oversight requirements on specific content types appearing in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)
China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), is a database of Chinese knowledge-based information resources. This platform covers journals, theses, proceedings, newspapers, books and ancient books.
Please note: before accessing full text pdfs, you should ensure that you have the Simplified Chinese Font Pack for Adobe Acrobat Reader. - KCI Korean Journal Database on Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Regional content from scholarly journals in South Korea.
- SciELO Citation Index on Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Science, social science, and arts and humanities research in published in open access journals from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean and South Africa.
- Decolonization: the politics of independence in former colonial territories digital archive This link opens in a new window
This database brings together material from within former British colonies and Commonwealth nations, alongside some from former French and Portuguese territories, to provide primary source material created for local audiences during a period of enormous global change. After the Second World War decolonization movements around the world gathered pace, and from the small port colony of Aden to the vast Indian sub-continent, new borders were set and new nations built.
- Ethnographic Video Online: Volume 3, Indigenous Voices This link opens in a new window
The role of the traditional ethnographer is changing as the perspectives and epistemologies of indigenous peoples have taken on central significance in the discipline, challenging earlier representations and implicit “us versus them” constructs. In order to create a platform for indigenous voices to address issues from indigenous perspectives, the third volume of the ethnographic film series is dedicated to indigenous filmmakers.
- International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) This link opens in a new window
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) is an essential online resource for social science and interdisciplinary research. IBSS includes journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries.
Grey Literature
Including grey literature in your search can help you better represent a global research picture - sometimes research from the global south is treated as grey literature and isn't always published in prestigious journals or indexed in big commercial databases. There are lots of places you can look for grey literature. The databases below can be useful, but you should also look at the information on the next page of the guide for more information on finding grey literature.
- Overton This link opens in a new window
NB: This database can be browsed on campus without signing into the Overton site. Off campus, users need to register on the Overton registration page with their @bristol.ac.uk email address. Overton allows users to discover policy documents in 180 countries and explore their links to each other and to the academic research that has informed them. Overton indexes work from governments, universities, IGOs, NGOs, research funders, publishers and think tanks to understand their role in the policymaking landscape. Users can track the evolution of ideas all the way from academic and think tank research to government reports and legislation.
Next step: Grey Literature
Libraries are not Neutral
If you would like to understand more about why voices from the Global South aren't always included in major databases, then this short zine on the colonial history and legacy in libraries can provide some more information.
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Inclusion and exclusion criteria are decided in advance and included in the protocol. They are the criteria that decide which studies should be included in the systematic review analysis.
"The review protocol should provide explicit, unambiguous, inclusion criteria for the review."
The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, 2020
Possible inclusion/exclusion criteria to consider
Date: Has there already been a systematic review in this area? Refer to this study and it's findings in your introduction and start your review AFTER that study.
Geographic location of study: you may only be interested in studies from a particular country, or countries that share demographic or economic factors.
Language: very few systematic reviews request translations of papers!
Participants: age group, gender, ethnicity etc…
Participant Experience: participants may need to meet a condition to be included (eg: received a particular diagnosis, prescribed a drug, taken a class)
Peer Review: Some systematic reviews will exclude non-peer reviewed literature, but many will include grey literature.
Setting: Where are the participants located? (School, hospital, prison)
Study Design: Randomised control trials, participation studies, longitudinal studies…
Type of Publication: usually looking for original studies, rather than editorials, reviews or letters
The Cochrane Handbook recommends:
"The population, intervention and comparison components of the question, with the additional specification of types of study that will be included, form the basis of the pre-specified eligibility criteria for the review."
Chapter 3 of the Cochrane Handbook has lots of advice on selecting your inclusion or eligibility criteria.