Systematic literature reviews that address a broad question take more time to search databases and to write up. Do you have any suggestions on how to expedite the process?
Consider using Nested Knowledge to perform the systematic review (https://nested-knowledge.com/). There are other software tools that help expedite the process, but in my opinion, none are as user-friendly, efficient, or as comprehensive. The software makes it very convenient to perform every step of the process and some steps along the literature review pathway are even automatically performed (removal of duplicate studies, generating PRISMA charts, tables/figures of results, etc.). A nice comparison of other available literature review software platforms and their features can also be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35499859/
Regardless of the software used, a clearly defined research question and study protocol are essential for a high-quality and focused review. It is generally a good idea to register your review on PROSPERO or at least establish a study protocol that addresses all of the main points in the PROSPERO checklist. Sticking to these criteria and other major reporting guidelines (e.g., PRISMA) will help you perform a high quality, focused, and efficient review.
Prepare your mind for the task ahead. Systematic reviews take quite some time, and one has to go through the entire stages. One way to reduce your work load is by narrowing down the topic such that the numbers of relevant paper would be within the scope you can manage. The more the amount of papers to review, the longer the review process. Another thing that would help is that you take time to come up with a good search strategy so that you dont have to repeat the search over and over again
I agree with Francis Umeoguaju
The number one determinant of how long a systematic review takes is the number of studies you are reviewing. If you have fewer studies, it takes less time. Do careful preliminary searches so you know how roughly how many studies will be included in your review.
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