Evidence Synthesis: Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews, Etc.

"True to their name, scoping reviews are an ideal tool to determine the scope or coverage of a body of literature on a given topic and give clear indication of the volume of literature and studies available as well as an overview (broad or detailed) of its focus." (Munn et al., 2018) 

For a given topic, a scoping reviews might: 

• seek to identify types of evidence generated
• try to clarify key concepts or characteristics
• attempt to examine how research is conducted
• seek to identify gaps in the knowledge base and literature
• to determine whether a systematic review is necessary or to preclude a systematic review 

(Munn et al., 2018, Grant and Booth, 2009)