Boxer Library
Put simply, a protocol is a PLAN for your review. It defines the topic, objectives, methods and reporting for your review. A protocol is a very important way to reduce reporting bias and to prevent researchers from changing their question or methods to get certain results or answers.
Protocols for systematic reviews should be registered at the beginning of your project so that other researchers can find that you are doing a review on your topic. This can help to prevent research waste.
Protocols are REQUIRED for systematic reviews. Protocols are RECOMMENDED for scoping reviews.
Systematic review protocols should be registered in PROSPERO, the international prospective register of systematic reviews. If the review is affiliated with JBI, it can be registered in JBI’s Systematic Review Register. Scoping reviews can be registered in the Open Science Framework or Figshare.
PRISMA-P is an extension of PRISMA that tells you what should be included in a protocol. You can also browse registries to see examples of protocols.
