Our services for faculty & research teams

For teams conducting systematic reviews or evidence syntheses, involving a UAB librarian can enhance your project. A UAB librarian will join your team to provide expertise in developing and documenting the literature searches and contributing to the methodology section of your manuscript.

Services include:

• Research Guidance: Overview of research steps, processes, and expectations.
• Research Question Formulation: Guidance on using frameworks such as PICO, SPIDER, ROSES, PEO, etc.
• Databases/Sources Selection: Recommendations for databases and sources suitable for your topic.
• Citation Management: Instruction on using EndNote or other citation tools for managing citations and sharing results.
• Literature Searches: Creating, translating, and conducting searches.
• Reference Screening: Training on using Covidence to manage references for inclusion in your final review.
• Full-Text Access: Guidance on obtaining full-text of published papers.
• Methodology Writing: Drafting the search methodology section according to PRISMA standards.
• Search Updates: Performing updates if searches are over one year old.
• Manuscript Review: Reviewing and editing before journal submission.

It is expected that librarians be listed as co-authors for collaboration services.

If you'd like to request a librarian to assist with the expert searches, please fill out our Expert/Systematic Review Search Request Form. A UAB Librarian will contact you in 1-2 business days to set up an appointment. For more information on the systematic review process, tools, and resources, please see our systematic review research guide, here. 

Our services for students

For students interested in meeting with a librarian to get more guidance and education on conducting research, a UAB librarian is available to assist with a variety of topics, sometimes across multiple consultations.

For academic projects, theses/dissertations, or class assignments, the librarian will work with the student and faculty mentor or advisor to determine what parts of the project must be completed by the student to meet the learning objectives for the academic project, and how to balance librarian expertise and contributions.

Individual/Small Group Consultation Topics May Include:

• Search Development: Assistance with generating keywords and controlled vocabulary terms, creating search strings for PubMed, and reviewing searches you have created.
• Research Processes: Overview of research steps and processes.
• Manuscript Methods Reporting: Advice on reporting methods in your manuscript.
• Evidence Synthesis Reporting Standards: Referral to relevant standards for evidence synthesis.
• Research Question Formulation: Guidance on using frameworks such as PICO, SPIDER, ROSES, PEO, etc.
• Databases/Sources Selection: Recommendations for databases and sources suitable for your topic.
• Database Training: Training on UAB’s available databases.
• Citation Management: Instruction on using EndNote for managing citations and sharing results.
• Reference Screening: Training on using Covidence to manage references for inclusion in your final review.
• Full-Text Access: Guidance on obtaining full-text of published papers (note: obtaining full-text of reviewed papers is the student’s responsibility).

If the project will be published (conference presentations, posters, articles, etc.), it is customary for an acknowledgment to be given to the librarian in if extensive assistance is provided.

If you'd like to request a consultation, please fill out this form. UAB Librarians will contact you in 1-2 business days to set up an appointment. For more information on the systematic review process, tools, and resources, please see our systematic review research guide, here.