Scoping Review Services for Researchers, Funders and Policy Teams
Pubrica conducts scoping reviews for researchers, doctoral scholars, funders, policy makers, professional societies and industry teams who need to know what evidence exists on a topic and where it stops. A scoping review asks what has been studied, in what form and where the gaps are, rather than whether an intervention works. Our information specialists and subject matter experts confirm the review type in the protocol, run a reproducible search, chart the included evidence and report it under PRISMA-ScR. You receive a registered protocol, the dated search strategy, a reusable charting table, the PRISMA-ScR flow diagram and a specific statement of the evidence gaps.
- Maps the evidence rather than judging it — study quality is charted rather than appraised, which is the defining methodological difference from a systematic review
- PRISMA-ScR reporting and JBI conduct, the two standards against which reviewers assess a scoping review
- A broad question with inclusive criteria, as the scoping method requires
- Protocol registered before charting, so inclusion decisions are fixed before the evidence is seen
- A reusable charting table, delivered as a working file that commissioners can filter and extend
A broad question with inclusive criteriaIncluded
Charting table built and deliveredIncluded
PRISMA-ScR reportingIncluded
Stakeholder consultation where usefulIncluded
Effect estimates or pooled resultsRequires a systematic review
Field → searched → charted → mapped → gaps identified
- Charted, not appraised
- PRISMA-ScR throughout
- JBI conduct guidance
- Protocol registered first
- Charting table delivered
Service Scope
Four Scoping Review Service Areas, Available Individually
Pubrica provides each stage of a scoping review as a separate service, so you can outsource the complete review or only the stage you need, whether you are starting from a research question or from records already collected.
Who we serve
Researchers and Organisations We Support with Scoping Reviews
We support academic researchers and the organisations that use scoping reviews to make decisions, including funders, policy teams, professional societies and industry.
Deliverables
What Every Scoping Review Includes
Every scoping review produces a map of the evidence, delivered in a form you can use and extend after the review is complete.
From the scoping stageIs intervention X effective in population Y?What research has examined intervention X in population Y, using what designs, measuring what outcomes, and where has it not been studied? — the first question needs a systematic review; the second is what a scoping review answers.
From the charting tableReviewers flag critical appraisal in a scoping review as a methodological error. The purpose of the method is coverage, and appraisal introduces a judgement the method is not designed to make.
From the gap analysisFurther research is needed in this area.No study has examined this intervention in adults over 70; all eleven trials excluded that group at recruitment. This defined gap can inform a funding decision or a new study.
From the handoverCommissioners often use the table more than the paper, because they can query it again when their portfolio questions change.
These samples are illustrative and anonymised. Hover over a sample to replay it.
Compliance and Standards
Scoping Review Methodological and Reporting Standards
Each scoping review follows separate standards for reporting and for conduct, and reviewers check both.
PRISMA-ScR (scoping review reporting)
The 2018 extension to PRISMA for scoping reviews, with twenty-two items. It does not require a risk-of-bias assessment, because scoping reviews do not appraise study quality.
JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis (conduct guidance)
The conduct manual for scoping and umbrella reviews. It covers how the review is carried out, which PRISMA reporting guidance does not address.
PRISMA-S (search reporting)
The 2021 search extension to PRISMA 2020, with sixteen items covering the sources searched, the exact strategy, the search dates and the results, so the search can be reproduced.
Quality management (cert. H3CR9TCU20251212INDQM10N)
Our quality management system covers how each project is conducted, documented and delivered.
Responsible Use of AI
Responsible Use of AI in Scoping Reviews
Scoping reviews return large record sets, where automated screening is most tempting and least accountable. Our reviewers, not software, decide which records are included in the map.
Why We Do Not Publish an AI Accuracy Figure
Accuracy figures for AI tools are usually reported by the companies that sell them.
For the same reason, Pubrica does not quote an accuracy figure of its own, as it would carry the same conflict of interest. Instead, we tell you which tool was used on your project, at which stage, and what our reviewers changed after it.
Methodology
How Our Scoping Review Process Works
We design the charting form before the search runs, so that it is not shaped by the records the search returns.
Question and protocol
We frame the scoping question, set deliberately broad inclusion criteria and register the protocol before charting begins.
Search and select
We search databases and grey literature using recorded strategies, select records against the criteria and maintain the PRISMA-ScR flow throughout.
Data charting
We chart every included record against the predefined form, refining the form iteratively and documenting each refinement.
Map and report
We map the evidence, state each gap with its boundaries and, where it adds value, run a consultation exercise with stakeholders in the field.
Our experts
Your Scoping Review Team
Your project is handled by a named team of subject specialists who stay with it from scoping to delivery. Your project coordinator introduces each team member before work begins.
Designs and runs the literature search, writing the strategy line by line for each database and delivering it dated and fully reproducible.
Defines the question and scope and checks that every conclusion is supported by the evidence. Matched to your topic, the subject expert advises you directly when the evidence does not support an intended conclusion.
Reviews the work independently of the first reviewer and reconciles the two, which catches transcription errors. Every disagreement is logged and adjudicated.
Leads the statistical analysis, confirms before analysis begins whether the data can answer the question, and delivers the code so the analysis can be reproduced independently.
Packages
Scoping Review Service Packages
The cost of a scoping review depends on the size of the field and the number of records the search returns, which is usually large for a deliberately broad question.
Scoping review
For fields that have not yet been mapped
Quoted per projectBased on field size and record volume
Delivery By scope
- ✓Scoping question framed correctly
- ✓Protocol registered before charting
- ✓Search recorded per database
- ✓Charting form designed and applied
- ✓PRISMA-ScR flow and reporting
- ✓Charting table delivered
If your question requires a systematic review instead, we will advise you before quoting.
Deliverables Request a quoteScoping review with consultation
For fields where practitioner knowledge adds to the published literature
Quoted per projectBased on field size and number of stakeholders
Delivery By scope
- ✓Everything in the scoping review
- ✓Stakeholder consultation designed and run
- ✓Practitioner input charted alongside the literature
- ✓Gaps validated against people who work in the field
- ✓Findings reported as a single map
Consultation is the optional stage in the original scoping review framework and is often omitted. It adds practitioner knowledge to the bibliographic map.
Deliverables Request a quoteScoping review followed by systematic review
For projects that map the field before answering a focused question
Quoted per projectBased on the scope of the systematic review
Delivery Two stages
- ✓Scoping review delivered first
- ✓Answerable questions identified from the map
- ✓Systematic review protocol built on the charting
- ✓Search extended rather than restarted
- ✓Both outputs publishable separately
This sequence suits many fields and costs less than finding at the screening stage that the systematic review question cannot be answered.
Deliverables Request a quoteSend us your topic and we will advise, at no cost, whether it requires a scoping review or a systematic review. An incorrect choice of review type often becomes apparent only at peer review, after the search has been completed.
Benefits
Benefits of a Pubrica Scoping Review
The main benefits of commissioning a scoping review from Pubrica.
Quality Assurance
Our Service Commitments and Limitations
Our service terms are set out in full below so you can review them before you commit.
The Pubrica guarantee
Revision Support Until Agreed Requirements Are Met
We continue revising the work until it meets the requirements agreed within the scope. Rather than offering a refund, which would end the engagement with the work incomplete, we keep working until the agreed requirements are met.
01
Unlimited revisions within the agreed scope
There is no limit on the number or timing of revision rounds within the agreed scope. If the work does not meet the agreed requirements, we revise it. Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately, and we confirm which applies before any work starts.
02
Corrections at Our Cost
If an error in our analysis or writing needs correcting, we correct it free of charge.
03
Delivered on the date agreed
We quote a delivery date we can meet and work to it. If a milestone is at risk, we inform you in advance.
04
Mutual NDA on request
We sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement before you share any material, at no cost, and we can sign your organisation’s NDA instead of ours.
05
You Retain Final Decisions
We give clear methodological advice and tell you when we disagree with a proposed approach. You make the final decision on everything published in your name.
Average client rating
From 3,000 responses to Pubrica’s post-delivery survey, sent to every client at handover between January 2024 and June 2026. This figure comes from our own records rather than from an external rating service.
Limitations of Our Service We cannot guarantee decisions made by others, such as an editor’s decision, a funding panel’s outcome or a regulator’s assessment. Within the agreed scope, we commit to the work itself: completed to the standards named on this page, delivered on the agreed date and corrected at our cost if we made an error.
FAQs
Scoping Review FAQs
If your question is not answered here, please ask an expert. No quote is required.
If you want to know whether something works, and there are studies that measured it, you need a systematic review. If you want to know what has been studied and where the literature stops, you need a scoping review.
We confirm the review type in writing before any search runs, because an incorrect choice usually becomes apparent only at peer review, after the search has been paid for.
No. Charting quality characteristics is acceptable, but scoring studies with a risk-of-bias tool is not, and PRISMA-ScR deliberately omits this step.
Reviewers treat appraisal in a scoping review as a methodological error, because it introduces a judgement the method is not designed to make.
Protocols can be registered, and should be, though PROSPERO does not accept scoping reviews. Open repositories are the usual route and are widely accepted.
The protocol should be public and dated before charting begins, so that inclusion decisions cannot be influenced by a preferred answer.
Yes. Scoping reviews are published routinely in health, education and policy journals, and they are widely cited because other researchers use them as a map of the field.
The charting table is often published as a supplement, which is what makes it reusable by other groups.
Related services
Related Research Services
Services that commonly follow or complement a scoping review.
1WHAT USUALLY FOLLOWSonce the field is charted
Systematic reviewAnswering a question the map identified. Meta-analysisWhere studies are alike enough to pool.2RELATED MAPPING METHODSalternative approaches
Evidence gap mapThe evidence charted and presented visually. Literature reviewNarrative, targeted or state of the art.3IF THE DEADLINE IS SHORTcompressed forms
Rapid reviewSystematic methods with declared shortcuts. Search peer reviewPRESS review before the search runs.Request a Free Scoping or Systematic Review Assessment
We advise whether your topic requires a scoping review or a systematic review before any search is run, when changing course costs least.