# Systematic Review Protocol: Title

> PRISMA-aligned structure – the standard for reproducible literature
> reviews. Register on PROSPERO or OSF before starting.

| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| Registration | PROSPERO / OSF ID |
| Authors | Names |
| Date | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Status | Protocol / Screening / Analysis / Published |

## Review question (PICO)

| Element | Definition |
|---------|------------|
| **P**opulation | Who |
| **I**ntervention | What |
| **C**omparator | vs what |
| **O**utcome | measured how |

## Research question

Precise formulation of the question this review answers.

## Eligibility criteria

**Inclusion**

- Criterion one
- Criterion two

**Exclusion**

- Criterion one
- Criterion two

## Search strategy

| Database | Date range | Search string |
|----------|------------|---------------|
| PubMed | YYYY-YYYY | "(term) AND (term)" |
| Scopus | | |
| Grey lit | | |

## Study selection process

1. Deduplication – tool
2. Title/abstract screening – N reviewers, conflict rule
3. Full-text screening – same process
4. Inter-rater agreement: Cohen's $\kappa$ target

## PRISMA flow

```mermaid
flowchart TD
    A[Records identified: N] --> B[Deduped: N]
    B --> C[Screened: N]
    C --> D[Full-text assessed: N]
    D --> E[Included: N]
    C -.->|excluded| F[Reasons]
    D -.->|excluded| G[Reasons w/ counts]
```

## Data extraction

Fields extracted per study:

| Field | Notes |
|-------|-------|
| Study design | |
| Sample | |
| Outcome measure | |
| Effect size | |

## Quality assessment

- Risk-of-bias tool: RoB 2 / ROBINS-I / QUADAS-2
- Assessment procedure

## Synthesis plan

- Narrative vs meta-analysis decision rule
- Effect measure: OR / RR / SMD
- Heterogeneity: $I^2$ threshold

$$
I^2 = \frac{Q - df}{Q} \times 100\%
$$

## Amendments

Protocol deviations are logged here with date + reason.