Clinical research & EBM · Reference
What is PRISMA?
PRISMA — Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses — is a reporting standard that specifies what authors should disclose when publishing a systematic review. PRISMA 2020 provides a checklist and a flow diagram to make reviews transparent and reproducible.
What PRISMA is for
PRISMA improves how systematic reviews are reported so that readers can judge their conduct and reliability. It specifies items covering the rationale, eligibility criteria, information sources, search strategy, study selection, data collection, risk-of-bias assessment and synthesis of results. By prompting authors to report each step, PRISMA reduces the chance that important methods or decisions are left undescribed. It is curated by the EQUATOR Network alongside other design-specific guidelines such as CONSORT for trials and STROBE for observational studies.
The PRISMA 2020 checklist
The current version, PRISMA 2020, updates the original 2009 statement to reflect advances in review methods and reporting. It comprises a 27-item checklist, grouped across the standard sections of a paper, plus an expanded checklist for the abstract. Each item describes a specific piece of information the report should contain, from how studies were identified to how results were combined and how certainty in the evidence was assessed. The checklist is intended to be used when writing up a review and when peer-reviewing or appraising one.
The PRISMA flow diagram
A distinctive part of PRISMA is its flow diagram, which traces the number of records through the review: identified from searches, removed as duplicates, screened, assessed for eligibility, excluded with reasons, and finally included. The diagram makes the selection process transparent at a glance and lets readers see how a large set of search results narrowed to the studies analysed. Completing the flow diagram is one of the most visible signals that a review has followed a systematic, auditable process.
Key facts
At a glance
- Stands for: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
- Type: Reporting standard, not a conduct method
- Current: PRISMA 2020 (updating the 2009 statement)
- Checklist: 27 items, plus an abstract checklist
- Flow diagram: Traces records from identification to inclusion
- Curated by: The EQUATOR Network
Common questions
FAQ
What does PRISMA stand for?+
PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. It is a reporting guideline that specifies the minimum information authors should disclose when publishing a systematic review or meta-analysis.
Is PRISMA a method for conducting a review?+
No. PRISMA is a reporting standard, not a conduct method. It describes what should be reported so a review is transparent and reproducible, whereas guidance such as the Cochrane Handbook covers how to carry the review out.
What is the PRISMA flow diagram?+
The PRISMA flow diagram traces the number of records through a review — from those identified in searches, through duplicates removed, records screened and studies excluded with reasons, to those finally included. It makes the study-selection process transparent.
The step most authors miss
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