Scoping reviews, umbrella reviews and focused mapping review synthesis: methodological aspects and applications

Abstract

We aimed to comment on the methodological differences and applications of these three types of reviews with special attention to Latin America. Among these new types of reviews we have the scoping review, umbrella review and focused mapping review synthesis. Scoping reviews identify the nature and extent of the evidence, umbrella reviews focus on the synthesis of all systematic reviews that address the same health problem, while focused mapping review syntheses are valid options when a classical mapping of the evidence is not feasible, due to addressing too many articles. As researchers in Latin America become familiar with the methodology and usefulness of these new types of review, an increase in scientific production will be observed.

Keywords

• medicina basada en la evidencia
• técnicas de evaluación
• revisiones sistemáticas
• metodología