PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
The flow diagram is part of the reporting standards of PRISMA and is comprised of a four-phase diagram (Identifying, Screening, Eligibility, and Finalizing). It depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a systematic review. It maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions.
Different templates are available depending on the type of review (new or updated) and sources used to identify studies.
In this section:
In this portion of the diagram the total search yields and deduplication totals are recorded. This is obtained searching database(s) or other sources on a specific date, run all your searches, and record the number.
Results should be exported and then imported into to a citation manager or screening tool (if one is being used) Only through this process can total results and especially duplicates be quickly removed and identified. Duplicates appear if two or more sources are searched; single source searches result in zero duplicates.
Note: The * allows for individual search yields by source to also be listed rather than a total sum only. This is recommended if totals were documented at an individual source level
