Inclusion, characteristics and methodological limitations of systematic reviews in doctoral theses: A cross‐sectional study of all universities in Sweden

Abstract

Systematic reviews identify, assess and synthesize research and inform decision‐making. We identified all doctoral theses published within seven Swedish universities and estimated the prevalence of any reviews, explored their characteristics and assessed their quality. Overall, only about 1 out of 100 studies were systematic reviews, and about 1 doctoral student out of 20 included any review in their thesis. The few systematic reviews included in doctoral theses generally had low quality due to issues with the application of current systematic review methods and tools. We argue that systematic reviews can help improve the relevance and quality of subsequent research and avoid research waste for doctoral students. Moreover, systematic reviews support the development of important skills for conducting and interpreting research and support reaching the educational goals of doctoral programs within medicine and health. We argue that actions are needed to support doctoral students in including and conducting high‐quality systematic reviews.