Protocol Development and PROSPERO Registration for Systematic Reviews

ScribeLabWriter develops PRISMA-P-compliant protocols (Moher, Shamseer, Clarke, et al., Systematic Reviews, 2015) and prepares your PROSPERO registration submission with every required field completed. We handle the documentation so your review starts with a published, citable protocol that demonstrates methodological rigor from the outset.

PROSPERO is maintained by the University of York's Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD), funded by the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and is free to use.

Registering a protocol before screening serves three purposes that directly affect whether your review gets published.

It prevents outcome reporting bias. A registered protocol creates a public record of what you planned to measure before you saw the results. Journals and reviewers check PROSPERO to confirm that the outcomes, analyses, and eligibility criteria in your submitted manuscript match the registered protocol. Any deviations must be declared and justified (PRISMA 2020, Item 24).

It prevents duplication. PROSPERO allows other researchers to see that a review on your topic is already in progress. This reduces wasted effort and allows teams working on similar questions to coordinate rather than duplicate.

It is increasingly mandatory. Most high-impact journals expect a PROSPERO registration number at submission. Reviewers routinely check whether the protocol was registered before or after screening began. Retrospective registration (after screening has started) is permitted but flagged on the PROSPERO record, and some reviewers treat it as a limitation.

PROSPERO accepts registrations for systematic reviews, rapid reviews, and umbrella reviews. It does not accept scoping reviews, literature reviews, or reviews that do not have at least one health-related outcome.

Registration is eligible as long as the review has not progressed beyond data extraction. Ideally, the protocol should be registered before screening begins. PROSPERO's platform was updated on 24 February 2025, and all named authors must now approve the registration before it is published.

The registration form requires detailed information across approximately 22 key fields, including:

• Review title
• Anticipated or actual start date
• Stage of the review at registration
• Named contact and organizational affiliation
• Review question with PICO or PECO components
• Searches (databases, date limits, language restrictions)
• Condition or domain being studied
• Population and their condition
• Intervention and comparator
• Primary and secondary outcomes
• Data extraction method
• Risk of bias assessment strategy
• Synthesis strategy (narrative, meta-analysis, or both)
• Subgroup and sensitivity analysis plans
• Dissemination plans
• Funding source
• Conflicts of interest

We complete every field based on your research question and methodology decisions, formatted for direct submission to PROSPERO.

• A PRISMA-P-compliant protocol document (17-item checklist) structured as a standalone publication or thesis appendix
• A PROSPERO-ready submission with every registration field completed
• A comprehensive search strategy draft with database-specific syntax
• Defined eligibility criteria (PICO or PECO)
• Risk of bias tool selection with justification (RoB 2, ROBINS-I, QUADAS-2, NOS, CASP)
• Data extraction variable list
• Planned synthesis approach with statistical methods if meta-analysis is anticipated
• PROSPERO submission support (we prepare the fields; you submit through your PROSPERO account)
• Unlimited revisions until your supervisor approves the protocol

Step 1: Research Question Refinement

We work with you to refine your research question using the PICO framework (or PECO for exposure-based questions). A well-structured question determines the eligibility criteria, the search strategy, and the synthesis approach. If you do not yet have a research question, we help you develop one based on your topic area and the existing evidence base.

Step 2: Protocol Drafting

We write the full protocol following the PRISMA-P 2015 17-item checklist (Shamseer et al., BMJ, 2015). The protocol covers: rationale and objectives, eligibility criteria, information sources and search strategy, study selection process, data extraction plan, risk of bias assessment tool and strategy, planned synthesis approach (narrative, meta-analysis, or both), subgroup and sensitivity analyses, confidence in cumulative evidence (GRADE plan), and amendments procedures.

Step 3: PROSPERO Field Completion

We translate the protocol into PROSPERO's registration format, completing every required field with the precision and detail that reviewers expect. The submission is delivered to you as a formatted document you can paste directly into the PROSPERO platform through your account.

Step 4: Review and Revision

You and your supervisor review the protocol. We revise as many times as needed until the protocol is approved. Once approved, you submit it to PROSPERO through your personal account. We can guide you through the submission process if needed.