Librarian involvement is strongly recommended or required by organizations that fund and conduct knowledge synthesis projects (eg. IOM, Cochrane, CIHR, Campbell Collaboration, JBI). Librarian involvement in such projects has also been shown to improve the quality of reviews and lead to higher quality search strategies.
Researchers in the early stages of the knowledge synthesis process may apply for librarian collaboration in their projects using THIS FORM. Please be advised that such partnership requests are accepted on a case-by-case basis; applications will be reviewed by the knowledge synthesis team and applicants will be notified when a decision has been made.
Description
Partnering with a librarian means the librarian is a member of the research team. The librarian becomes responsible for search strategy development, implementation, and reporting, in consultation with other team members. At the completion of a project in which a librarian works in a collaborative, embedded role, they should be offered co-authorship in the final publication (as per the recommendations defining authors from ICMJE).
Eligibility
Librarian collaboration on knowledge synthesis projects is normally only available to UNB faculty members. Exceptions may be made for researchers affiliated with CRIC and the JBI Centre of Excellence, and for PhD candidates working towards a journal publication.
Librarian role
When collaborating on a review project, the librarian will:
- Work with the team to develop an appropriate research question
- Provide guidance on database selection
- Check for existing or registered systematic reviews on the same topic
- Design and execute the systematic search strategy
- Advise the team on grey literature searching and may assist with running the searches on a case-by-case basis
- Export search results in RIS format to the researcher’s citation or review tool of choice
- Document search methodology, export search histories, and provide search details as recommended by PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-S
- Write the source and search methodology sections of protocols and final manuscripts; provide search details for the appendix
- As a co-author, review and approve submitted manuscripts, and respond to reviewer feedback as needed
Parameters
To ensure that the needs of both the principal investigator and the librarian are met, we require a commitment for the following:
- The application form must be completed and submitted. Incomplete forms will not be considered.
- The principal investigator agrees to serve as the primary contact for the librarian
- The principal investigators will respond promptly to requests for meetings and / or written clarification from the librarian.
- A copy of the manuscript must be shared with the librarian for review before it is submitted for publication with a journal
- Co-authorship on must be offered to the librarian collaborator, who may accept or decline the offer at their own discretion.
Note: librarian availability to collaborate on knowledge synthesis projects may vary based on the time of year and the number of projects being proposed. Please be aware that applications for collaboration may have their timelines negotiated, be placed in a queue until a librarian becomes available, or may simply not be taken up by the Knowledge Synthesis team.