Template for a Systematic Literature Review Protocol

The present document aims to facilitate the preparation and writing of a protocol for a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) study. The document is a simplified template, mostly based on the Generalized Systematic Review Registration Form (van den Akker et al., 2020). It also contains references or links to other key works or supportive information pages. The template has been developed explicitly for educational purposes. In that way, the template is expected to contribute to the learning goal of planning, conducting, and reporting a SLR study. The template is also intended to be of use for researchers who require a starting structure for their study protocol. Keep in mind that a SLR protocol always needs to be customized according to specific study goals. Likewise, a protocol might need to be tailored to the requirements of a preregistration platform. Therefore, in the present template it is expected that the guiding information is eventually removed as well as any irrelevant sections (including this one). When suitable, new or more specific sections should be added.