Barriers and Facilitators Facing Early Career Researchers and Librarians in Health Professions when Conducting Systematic and Scoping Reviews: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

There is an increased number of systematic reviews (SRs) and scoping reviews (ScRs) published in health sciences and medicine (Bastian, Glasziou and Chalmers, 2010; Page et al., 2016). At each stage of these review cycles, different challenges can arise, especially for an early career researcher (ECR). Some of these challenges relate to inadequate or limited training in research methods, reporting standards, or the publication cycle, which results in the publication of poorly reported reviews. Early career researchers are especially vulnerable to challenges and barriers when conducting these reviews due to their lack of experience with these specific types of methodologies. In addition, librarians play a significant role in collaborating on SRs and ScRs, and often give instruction to ECRs regarding proper steps to follow when completing these reviews. While librarians may face similar challenges as ECRs when collaborating on SRs and ScRs, they also face instructional challenges when training ECRs. This two-part mixed methods dissertation seeks to investigate: (a) the challenges and barriers encountered by ECRs and librarians when performing these reviews; (b) facilitators encountered by ECRs and librarians to ease the challenges they experience; and (c) the issues experienced by librarians when instructing on SRs and ScRs, as well as solutions to aid them in better teaching these methodologies to researchers, especially ECRs. By investigating and documenting these areas, this study will build on the limited body of empirical research on challenges and barriers, as well as facilitators that ECRs and librarians experience (Ayala et al., 2019). Going forward, it will identify ways in which ECRs and librarians might improve their SR and ScR practices, thus improving the quality of medical literature for patient care. This investigation will also allow librarians to hone their teaching methods for these types of review methodologies and thus, facilitate best practices in this area.