PRISMA is a recognised tool designed to improve the quality of reporting primary systematic review and meta-analyses. It is used widely by researchers, staff and students in the School of Health and Life Sciences. Updates to PRISMA, including the statement, checklist and flow diagram were published earlier this year. The Library is working on updates to our website and associated guides to reflect these changes.

For the time being we will continue to provide our guidance on using the 2009 flow diagram.

We will also consult with academic departments within the school on how our support should develop in response to the new guideline.

If you need to access the new PRISMA documents you can find them on the PRISMA website. For more detailed information on PRISMA 2020 including how it was developed, how to use it and exemplars the following articles are helpful:

BMJ (OPEN ACCESS) Page, M. J. et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ 2021;372:n71, doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71

BMJ (OPEN ACCESS) Page, M. J. et al. PRISMA 2020 explanation and elaboration: updated guidance and exemplars for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ 2021;372:n160, doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n160