Even if you are completing a systematic review and not collecting "traditional" data, the search strategies you use, the screening of your results, and the coding can all be classified as data. Capturing this information in a Data Management Plan helps ensure your methods are clear, auditable, and reusable. The LBU DMP template is designed to support this process.

Here’s some guidance on how to complete the DMP and what you may want to consider:

Part B: data collection, organisation and description. Think about how you will do your literature searching, how you will carry out your screening (study selection), how you will remove the risk of bias, etc.

What file formats are you using? What tools are you using for the screening and management of your files? Will this enable the data to be shared? What file naming conventions will you use to ensure you can easily navigate your data?

What information and documentation do you need for someone else to be able to interpret the results of your systematic review? How will you document this?

Part C: active storage and backup. Where are you keeping the files so they can be accessed. If this is a team systematic review, will everyone have access? (see also: How does the Library support Systematic Reviews?). Are you using Systematic review software or citation management software? How are you backing up your data? Will you want to re-run your study in the future? What do you need to do now to make this possible?

Part D: long-term preservation, sharing and reuse. What information do you want to share, and what do you want to keep? These might be different.

Will you be publishing in a journal and/or submitting to a data repository, such as the Theses and Research Data Repository?

More information about Data Management for Systematic reviews is available on the University of Calgary website.

Some examples of Systematic Review datasets can be found by searching a data repository such as Figshare, using terms like “systematic review dataset”, or by including additional terms for your specific topic area: https://figshare.com/search?q=systematic+review+dataset