Somalia Medical Research Institute -somri

Guidance on Conducting a Systematic Literature Review
1. Define a Clear Research Question
2. Develop a Review Protocol
3. Conduct a Comprehensive Literature Search
4. Apply Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
5. Assess the Quality of Studies
6. Extract Data
7. Synthesize the Findings
8. Report the Review

How to pick a research topic in medicine
1. Look for Clinical "Gaps"
2. Leverage 2026 Healthcare Trends
3. The "FINER" Map for Medical

🔍 Boosting Your Literature Review in Medicine
Using Keywords Effectively
1️⃣ Start with a Structured Question (PICO)
P – Patient/Population
I – Intervention
C – Comparison
O – Outcome
✔ Focused
✔ Clinical relevance
✔ Clear research direction
2️⃣ Use Controlled Vocabulary + Free Text
MeSH terms in PubMed
Emtree terms in Embase
Add free-text synonyms
Why?
MeSH = precision
Free text = recent & broader capture
3️⃣ Apply Boolean Operators
AND → Narrows
OR → Broadens (synonyms)
NOT → Excludes
Example structure:
(type 2 diabetes OR T2DM)
AND (telemedicine OR telehealth)
AND (HbA1c OR glycemic control)
4️⃣ Use Synonyms & Variations
Include:
Abbreviations (T2DM)
Lay terms (heart attack)
Medical terms (myocardial infarction)
UK/US spelling
✔ Prevents missing key studies
5️⃣ Search Multiple Databases
PubMed
Embase
Cochrane Library
Scopus
✔ Improves completeness
✔ Reduces publication bias
6️⃣ Use Filters Carefully
Apply filters after broad search:
Study type (RCT, meta-analysis)
Date
Language
Avoid early over-restriction.
7️⃣ Document Your Strategy
Follow PRISMA guidelines:
Databases searched
Exact search strings
Dates
Number of records
✔ Ensures transparency
✔ Increases publication success
🎯 Key Takeaway
Structured question
Smart keyword combinations
Multiple databases
Proper documentation
= High-quality medical literature review

🔎 Types of Research Gaps
👉Theoretical Gap
A missing or underdeveloped theory explaining a phenomenon.
👉Methodological Gap
Prior studies used limited methods (e.g., only surveys, no experiments or qualitative data).
👉Empirical Gap
Lack of data or insufficient evidence to support conclusions.
👉Population Gap
Research focused on one group but ignored others (e.g., adults but not adolescents).
👉Geographical Gap
Studies conducted in one country or region but not others.
👉Contradictory Evidence Gap
Studies show conflicting results.
👉Practical/Policy Gap
Research findings exist, but real-world implementation or application is unclear.

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞
👉𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
👉𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜/𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥/𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥/𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
👉𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭
👉𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐚𝐩𝐬
👉𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝? (𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬)

𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬.
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦:
𝟏. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝟐. 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐞
𝟑. 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲
𝟒. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬
𝟓. 𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
𝟔. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞
𝟕. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝟖. 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐬
𝟗. 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬
𝟏𝟎. 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
𝟏𝟏. 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬
𝟏𝟐. 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬
𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐟𝐟

A Q1 journal means a Quartile 1 journal.
In plain terms 👇
It’s a journal that ranks in the top 25% of journals in its subject area based on impact and citations.
How this works
Journals are ranked within a field (like Medicine, Cardiology, Public Health)
The list is divided into 4 quartiles:
👉Q1 → top 25% (best ranked)
👉Q2 → 25–50%
👉Q3 → 50–75%
👉Q4 → bottom 25%
Why Q1 journals matter
👉High impact factor / citation score
👉Strong peer review
👉Widely read and cited
👉Preferred for:
-Academic promotions
-PhD/MD requirements
-Grants and fellowships

Collins Vaye is a Florida International University (FIU) doctoral graduate who overcame humble beginnings, selling meat in Liberia to pay for school. He is now focused on bridging the digital divide in Africa and empowering educators to use technology for educational transformation.

𝗨𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

Artificial intelligence has quietly become a co-author behind the scenes of modern academic work—not in the sense of replacing scholars, but in reshaping how research is conducted, written, and published. Used well, AI can sharpen thinking, speed up workflows, and lower barriers to high-quality scholarship. Used poorly, it can undermine originality, rigor, and trust. The key is intentional, transparent use.