A systematic review that is continuously updated — typically by re-running the registered search, screening newly-identified studies, and incorporating eligible ones into the synthesis — with explicit triggers for major versus minor updates and a publicly maintained version history.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A Cochrane living systematic review of COVID-19 therapeutics, updated weekly during the pandemic

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A one-off systematic review published in 2020 with no subsequent updates is not living

Editorial commentary

Cochrane and the BMJ have led adoption. Living systematic reviews require a sustainable team, a stable hosting infrastructure, and clear policies on when to update (continuously, monthly, on trigger). Used heavily during COVID-19 for time-sensitive evidence (e.g., on therapeutics).

References

Elliott et al. 2017 PLOS Medicine on Living Systematic Reviews
Cochrane Living Systematic Reviews guidance (2019)

Also known as

LSR · Living SR

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Living systematic review"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/living-systematic-review" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/living-systematic-review",
  "name": "Living systematic review",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/living-systematic-review",
  "description": "A systematic review that is continuously updated — typically by re-running the registered search, screening newly-identified studies, and incorporating eligible ones into the synthesis — with explicit triggers for major versus minor updates and a publicly maintained version history.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-outputs#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/living-systematic-review",
  "sameAs": [
    "LSR",
    "Living SR"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:06:21",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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