v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack AStablev2026.2

Scoping review

A literature review that maps the breadth and nature of evidence on a broad topic — characterising what exists, where, and in what form — using systematic search methods but without typically appraising study quality or synthesising effect estimates, following PRISMA-ScR.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A scoping review mapping all qualitative studies on AI use in radiology workflows over 2018-2024

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A focused systematic review of one intervention's effects is not a scoping review (it is a systematic review)

Editorial commentary

Scoping reviews answer ‘what is out there?’ rather than ‘what works?’. They typically precede systematic reviews to determine whether one is feasible, or stand alone when the question is descriptive rather than effect-estimating. Arksey & O’Malley (2005) provided the foundational framework.

References

PRISMA-ScR (Tricco et al. 2018 Annals of Internal Medicine)
Arksey and O’Malley 2005 ‘Scoping studies’ International Journal of Social Research Methodology

Also known as

Scoping study · Evidence map

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

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      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Scoping review"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/scoping-review" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

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  "sameAs": [
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}

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