What type of review attempts to analyze all available literature on a subject systematically?

A systematic review is a structured and methodical approach to surveying and consolidating all relevant literature on a particular topic or research question. This type of review emphasizes transparency and minimizes bias by following specific protocols for identifying, selecting, and analyzing studies. Systematic reviews employ comprehensive search strategies to gather all necessary studies and often include rigorous criteria for inclusion and exclusion, ensuring that the review reflects a complete and unbiased view of the available evidence.

The significance of systematic reviews lies in their ability to provide a high level of evidence synthesis, making them an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand the current state of knowledge on a subject. By aggregating multiple studies, systematic reviews can uncover general trends, assess the quality of evidence, and highlight gaps in the existing literature, thereby guiding future research directions.

In contrast, other types of reviews, such as narrative reviews, do not follow such rigorous methodologies and often summarize existing literature without a systematic approach, leading to a more subjective interpretation of the findings. Short communications and primary manuscripts serve different purposes in scholarly publishing and do not encompass the comprehensive analysis characteristic of systematic reviews.