Module 2 – Systematic review of animal study data

Learn about evidence synthesis of animal study data through systematic review and meta-analysis.

After completing this module, you should be able to:

  • Draft a comprehensive search
  • Under expert supervision, as member of a review team, perform the basic steps of a systematic review of animal studies
  • Assess the quality of an existing systematic review, using an appropriate tool

Core materials

Material 1 – SYRCLE’s Videoscribe on systematic review of animal studies

Study this material to learn about:

  • The purpose of systematic reviews of animal studies
  • The 6 main steps of a systematic review of animal studies

Type: Videoscribe
Duration: 5 minutes
Created by: SYRCLE

Material 2 – SYRCLE’s E-learning on systematic review of animal studies

Study this material to learn about:

  • Formulating a PICO systematic review question
  • Building a comprehensive search strategy
  • Selecting studies using inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • Extracting study characteristics
  • Assessing bias in primary studies
  • The basics of meta-analysis
  • Interpreting systematic review results

Type: interactive E-learning
(N.B. use “SYRCLE” as your registration code to create an account!)
Duration: 60 – 90 minutes
Created by: SYRCLE

Material 3 – Spotlight on Methods and Tools: ROBIS

Study this material to learn about:

  • Assessing the quality of a systematic review using the Risk Of Bias In Systematic reviews (ROBIS) tool

Type: webinar
Duration: 60 minutes
Speakers: Penny Withing and Robert Wolff
Created by: National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools @
McMaster University


Bonus materials

Bonus 1 – Systematic reviews of preclinical animal research: who are the potential knowledge users?

Study this material to learn about:

  • Idenfitying potential knowledge users of systematic reviews of preclinical animal research
  • Understanding the importance of systematic reviews of preclinical research findings
  • Understanding where preclinical systematic reviews fit from bench to bedside
  • Distinguishing between exploratory and confirmatory preclinical research

Type: webinar
Speaker: Mark Avey, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Created by: Cochrane training

Bonus 2 – Module “Systematic review and meta-analysis” in evidence-based toxicology

Study this material to learn about:

  • How to perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses in toxicology
  • The history of systematic review and meta-analysis
  • Step-by-step instructions on how to perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses using examples from the research activities of the instructors.

Type: Cousera course (N.B. select week 3!)
Speakers: Thomas Hartung and Lena Smirnova, Johns Hopkins University


Additional resources

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