The Evolving Methodology of Scoping Reviews.

Abstract

Scoping reviews have now been around for approximately 18 years with the growing use of this methodology. In a recent scoping review of scoping reviews, from 1999 to 2012, almost 70% of the scoping reviews were found from 2009 to 2012 (Pham et al., 2014). This scoping review pointed out that there are a variety of terms used to describe scoping reviews in the literature including but not limited to scoping study, scoping project, literature mapping, scoping exercise, scoping report, evidence mapping, systematic mapping, and rapid review (Pham et al., 2014). This variety of terms may stem from the lack of a universal definition of scoping review methodology. Examples of these varied definitions include (a) the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) definition that scoping reviews aim to map rapidly the key concepts underpinning a research area and the main sources and types of evidence available; (b) scoping reviews involve the synthesis and analysis of a wide range of research and non-research material to provide a greater conceptual clarity about a specific topic or field of evidence (Davis, Drey, & Gould, 2009); and (c) scoping reviews aim to provide a map of what evidence has been produced from disparate or heterogeneous sources as opposed to seeking only the best evidence to answer a particular question related to policy or practice (Joanna Briggs Institute [JBI], 2015). The purpose of scoping reviews is evolving as well. The most cited protocol for scoping reviews is the protocol put forth by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). They described the purpose of a scoping review is to examine the extent range and nature of research activity around a particular topic, to