Writing a Protocol

Overview

A protocol is a written plan that specifies, in advance, exactly how you intend to conduct your systematic literature review. It records your research question, search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, quality appraisal approach, and synthesis method before any searching begins. Writing a protocol is not bureaucratic overhead; it is the mechanism that makes your review transparent, reproducible, and defensible.

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Why a Protocol Matters

The core risk in any literature review is unconscious bias: the tendency to favour studies that confirm what you already expect to find. A pre-registered protocol addresses this by committing you to your methods before you have seen the results. Specifically, a protocol:

• Prevents outcome-driven decisions. Without a protocol, it is easy to quietly shift your inclusion criteria after seeing which studies support your argument. A protocol makes any deviation visible and requires justification.
• Supports reproducibility. Another researcher following your protocol should be able to replicate your search and arrive at substantially the same set of included studies.
• Strengthens your thesis. Examiners and supervisors can evaluate the rigour of your method independently of your findings. A well-written protocol demonstrates systematic thinking.
• Saves time downstream. Decisions made in the protocol (date ranges, languages, study types) do not have to be renegotiated at each stage of the review.

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What a Protocol Contains

A protocol does not need to be long, but it must be complete. The table below lists the standard components and what to include in each.

Section	What to include
Title	Working title of the review
Background	Brief rationale: why this topic, why now
Research question	Your structured question (from Step 1, using PICO, SPIDER, or PCC)
Eligibility criteria	Explicit inclusion and exclusion rules (date range, language, study type, geographic scope, etc.)
Search strategy	Databases to be searched, search strings, date of search
Screening process	How titles/abstracts and full texts will be screened; who is involved
Quality appraisal	Which appraisal tool will be used and how scores will be handled
Data extraction	What information will be extracted from each included study
Synthesis method	Narrative synthesis, thematic analysis, meta-analysis, etc.
Timeline	Planned dates for each stage

For a thesis-level SLR, your protocol will typically run two to four pages. It is good practice to share a draft with your supervisor before beginning your search.

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Protocol Registration

Registering your protocol with an external repository creates a timestamped, publicly accessible record of your planned methods. This is optional for most student theses but is increasingly expected in academic publishing and demonstrates a high standard of rigour.

PROSPERO

PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews) is hosted by the University of York's Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. It was originally designed for health research but now accepts reviews from social sciences, education, welfare, and business contexts. Registration is free.

• Suitable for: reviews with a clearly defined health, social, or policy-relevant outcome
• URL: www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero
• Note: registration requires an ORCID iD; the process takes approximately thirty to sixty minutes

OSF (Open Science Framework)

The OSF, maintained by the Center for Open Science, accepts protocol registrations for any discipline with no restrictions on topic. It is the more flexible option for management, design, or interdisciplinary business research.

• Suitable for: any review type, including scoping reviews (which PROSPERO does not accept)
• URL: osf.io
• Note: OSF also supports pre-registration of primary research studies, which may be useful for other thesis components

When registration is not required

Registration is not a formal requirement for most taught or research master's theses at this institution. However, if your supervisor encourages it, or if you intend to submit your review as a journal article, registration via PROSPERO or OSF is strongly advisable. If you do not register, note this explicitly in your methods chapter and explain why (for example, the review is a thesis component rather than a standalone publication).

Common Mistakes to Avoid