Rapid reviews are a systematic survey of literature on a topic or question of interest. Compared to a systematic review of literature, in a rapid review, several design decisions and practical steps are undertaken to reduce the time it takes to identify, aggregate and answer the question of interest. The Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group proposes that rapid reviews can take different forms,[1] and they define rapid reviews as: "A form of knowledge synthesis that accelerates the process of conducting a traditional systematic review through streamlining or omitting specific methods to produce evidence for stakeholders in a resource-efficient manner".[2]

In medicine and healthcare

Rapid reviews are a form of evidence synthesis, similar to a systematic review, that can be used to inform decision-making and healthcare initiative.[3] The World Health Organization (WHO) considers rapid reviews as a way of generating evidence in a short period using an abbreviated systematic review method.[4] During the COVID-19 pandemic rapid reviews were employed to answer pressing questions under strict time constraints.[2][5]

In software engineering

For Software Engineering, Rico et al.[6] have recently adapted and extended the rapid review method. Their proposal takes into account the unique requirements of industry-academia collaboration in SE research. The extension proposed by them highlights the ways in which practitioners and researchers can collaborate in the planning, design and conduct of a rapid review.[6] The guidelines by Rico et al.[6] have been used in two rapid reviews, one on machine learning[7] and another on software component selection[8]

References

  1. ^ Garritty, Chantelle; Gartlehner, Gerald; Nussbaumer-Streit, Barbara; King, Valerie J.; Hamel, Candyce; Kamel, Chris; Affengruber, Lisa; Stevens, Adrienne (February 2021). "Cochrane Rapid Reviews Methods Group offers evidence-informed guidance to conduct rapid reviews". Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 130: 13–22. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.10.007. PMC 7557165. PMID 33068715.
  2. ^ a b "Cochrane Covid Rapid Reviews". Cochrane Covid Rapid Reviews. The Cochrane Collaboration. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  3. ^ Khangura, Sara; Konnyu, Kristin; Cushman, Rob; Grimshaw, Jeremy; Moher, David (2012-02-10). "Evidence summaries: the evolution of a rapid review approach". Systematic Reviews. 1 (1): 10. doi:10.1186/2046-4053-1-10. ISSN 2046-4053. PMC 3351736. PMID 22587960.
  4. ^ Tricco, Andrea C.; Langlois, Etienne V.; Straus, Sharon E. (2017). Rapid reviews to strengthen health policy and systems: a practical guide. World Health Organization. hdl:10665/258698. ISBN 978-92-4-151276-3.
  5. ^ Brooks, Samantha K.; Webster, Rebecca K.; Smith, Louise E.; Woodland, Lisa; Wessely, Simon; Greenberg, Neil; Rubin, Gideon James (2020-03-14). "The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence". The Lancet. 395 (10227): 912–920. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. ISSN 0140-6736. PMC 7158942. PMID 32112714.
  6. ^ a b c Rico, Sergio; Ali, Nauman Bin; Engström, Emelie; Host, Martin (16 December 2020). "Guidelines for conducting interactive rapid reviews in software engineering -- from a focus on technology transfer to knowledge exchange". doi:10.5281/zenodo.4327725. S2CID 234929855. ((cite journal)): Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Song, Qunying; Borg, Markus; Engström, Emelie; Ardö, Håkan; Rico, Sergio (17 October 2022). "Exploring ML testing in practice: Lessons learned from an interactive rapid review with axis communications". Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on AI Engineering: Software Engineering for AI. pp. 10–21. doi:10.1145/3522664.3528596. ISBN 9781450392754. S2CID 247793031.
  8. ^ Bjarnason, Elizabeth; Åberg, Patrik; Ali, Nauman bin (28 February 2023). "Software selection in large-scale software engineering: A model and criteria based on interactive rapid reviews". Empirical Software Engineering. 28 (2): 51. doi:10.1007/s10664-023-10288-w. PMID 36875006. S2CID 257228945.
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