Knowledge Synthesis and Covidence

How Can a Librarian Help Your KS Review?

As information professionals, librarians can be a vital part of your research team: from creating, translating, and updating your search strategies to advising on citation and project management.

Nova Scotia Health Library Services offers various levels of support depending on your research needs. Some of the ways our librarians can help your review are listed below. Please read through the descriptions of the different levels of service to determine the level that best suits your needs.

For further information on what a Nova Scotia Health librarian can and cannot do for your review project, please read our Knowledge Synthesis Working Agreement.

For more information on why librarians can be beneficial to your review, check out the article below:

Koffel, J. B. (2015). Use of Recommended Search Strategies in Systematic Reviews and the Impact of Librarian Involvement: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Recent Authors. PLOS ONE10(5), e0125931. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125931

Literature Search Service

Please use our Literature Search service if you need research articles to:  

  • Inform a policy change 
  • Provide background for a research paper 
  • Care for a patient 
  • For other reasons unrelated to a knowledge synthesis project 

Simply provide us with your research question and we will supply selected results from the literature. Please note that these searches are not comprehensive and do not encompass all databases or search sources.

You can also learn more about our Literature Search Service by checking out our Searching guide.

Request a Literature Search

Advisory Tier

A librarian will conduct a 1 to 2 hour meeting with the researcher/research team. If needed, the librarian will provide additional advice and answer further questions from the researcher through email.

We can advise on: 

  • How to do a KS project 
  • Developing or improving your search query, including syntax and translation 
  • Where to conduct your search 
  • Using citation managers and review software supported by Library Services (Zotero and Covidence)

We cannot help with:

  • Creating entire search queries for you 
  • Setting up the review on a KS manager software 
  • Screening title/abstracts or full text 
  • Data extraction 
  • Writing or editing your manuscript 

 

You can book a consult with a librarian by clicking the button below and selecting the 'Knowledge Synthesis' category:

Book a Consultation

Comprehensive Tier

A librarian will become part of your research team. The Knowledge Synthesis Working Agreement, linked below, fully explains what a librarian can and cannot do as part of your research team. Please read it carefully before requesting comprehensive librarian services.  

Both parties will sign the agreement before the librarian engages in the review. If the librarian feels the terms of the agreement have been broken, they may use their discretion to withdraw from the project. 

Please read the Knowledge Synthesis Working Agreement before booking a consult with a librarian. After you and the librarian meet, if the project is agreeable, both parties will sign the working agreement: 

 

We follow the guidance of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors on what qualifies for authorship: