Reviews and Evidence Syntheses: Narrative Review

Dr. Sullivan, who serves as the editor for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education, defined a narrative review as, "a representation of influential articles on a topic, but did not use a comprehensive search strategy or review the quality of evidence."

In a 2023 article, Agarwal, Charlesworth, and Elrakhawy define narrative reviews as, " A narrative review is a synthesis of information and existing literature in relation to a focused topic. They are generally non-quantitative, thematic, educational and, where appropriate, opinionated. It could be argued that editorials should be included in this definition as they conform to similar principles, but there is one big difference; narrative reviews should include a description of the search methods. 

Dr. Sullivan also suggests that narrative reviews take one of the following approaches:

1) They can examine topics that are particularly diverse in subjects, methods, or outcomes;

2) Topics for which little original research exists.

3) Broad overviews of a topic without a specific, focused research question.

A qualitative approach is helpful to organize and synthesize various writings about an educational concept, particularly when few research articles exist or results cannot be easily pooled.

Flexibility in format allows the authors to tell the review "story" in a more compelling or interesting manner than the typical systematic review.

This 2023 article by S. Agarwal, M. Charlesworth, and M. Elrakhawy provides an excellent step-by-step set of instructions for writing a narrative review.

How can University of Toledo librarians help with your narrative review?

• Meet with you and/or members of your research team to talk about your topic and your search strategies, as well as databases and search terms that would be appropriate for your topic. [Schedule a Consult]
• For faculty, resident physicians, fellows, and staff members: a librarian can do one search in a single database and email you the results. [Request a Search]

Note: Our services are only available to current UToledo faculty, resident physicians, fellows, students, and staff members. If you are affiliated with another institution, please contact your library to see what services are available for your review.