Abstract
The current lack of synthesized evidence for informing the design of scientific advisory committees (SACs) is surprising in light of the widespread use of SACs throughout decision‐making processes. While existing research points to the importance of quality, relevance, and legitimacy for SACs' effectiveness, those planning SACs would benefit from efforts to systematically pinpoint optimal designs of these committees for maximal effectiveness. Search strategies are developed for seven electronic databases. Of the 1895 systematic reviews identified, six reviews meet the inclusion criteria: they report the results of systematic reviews that followed a clearly identified systematic methodology, examine factors related to the design of SACs, and involve processes in the natural or social sciences. These reviews collectively summarize 444 primary studies. Three of the six reviews look at the impacts of SAC size, two evaluate the influence of the committee's diversity, and half mention the importance of properly on‐boarding new members. The goal is to identify recurring themes to understand the specific institutional features that optimize the usefulness of SACs. In turn, this overview of systematic reviews aims to contribute to a growing body of literature on how SACs should be designed to maximize their effectiveness and helpfulness for decision‐making.
Highlights
One of the overarching themes is the matter of committee size and the balancing act required: too many members in a committee lead to a deleterious impact with members conforming to the majority whereas too few members lead to a non-representative cohort of the population
While no specific committee size was consistently reported by the selected systematic reviews, it is recommended that SACs be composed of six to twelve members to ensure that both representation and the communication of unique perspectives are achieved
In order to overcome this barrier, we suggest implementing training measures and appointing experienced facilitators to fill gaps in knowledge and procedure, as suggested by the gathered evidence
Summary
The overarching goal of the paper is to serve as a starting point for further research investigation on how these committees can best be optimized, based on their specific goals and purposes. Reviews that did not employ systematic methodology were excluded, given that the primary aim of the study was to broadly distill common themes on the features which strengthen SACs
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