Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness and Safety of Shugan Jieyu Capsules for the Treatment of Insomnia
Published on: February 17, 2023
How to structure Microsoft Excel documents for systematic reviews
1IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Background:
Systematic reviews are complex and involve time-consuming, deep research in the academic literature to search, extract data, assess their quality and report the results. Digital tools and software have been developed to simplify different phases of this process but some of these are not free to use. Microsoft Excel is typically accessible to a great many researchers free of charge, so using it involves no further costs.
Aim:
To explain how to use Microsoft Excel to create transparent and complete reports for systematic reviews.
Discussion:
The author's method includes six steps: downloading the references, preparing worksheets, removing any duplicate references, screening the references by title and abstract, screening the full text of references, and listing the articles for inclusion in the review.
Conclusion:
The Excel method is efficient and free and can produce transparent and complete reports of systematic reviews. It is a valid alternative to the systematic reviews produced by advanced tools and software.
Implications For Practice:
The documents produced by this method are a good source for the direct production of scientific texts.
Related Concept Videos
Overview of Microsoft Excel as a Data Analysis Tool
Performing a Simple Data Analysis using MS-Excel Function
SUM: This function calculates the total sum of a range of values. It's the foundation for aggregating data, essential for determining overall trends and totals in datasets.
AVERAGE: It computes the mean value of a given set of numbers, providing a quick insight into the central...
Microsoft Excel: Regression Analysis
To perform regression...
Microsoft Excel: Finding Central Tendency, Skew, and Kurtosis
Mean: The arithmetic average of all data points. It is calculated by adding all the values together and dividing by the number of values. The mean is sensitive to extreme values (outliers).
Median: The middle value when the data points are arranged in ascending or descending...
Microsoft Excel: Median, Quartile range, and Box Plots
Median and Quartile Range: The median is calculated using the formula `=MEDIAN(range)', which provides the middle value of your data set. Quartiles divide your data into four equal parts. To find the first and third quartiles, use ‘=QUARTILE(range, 1)' and ‘=QUARTILE(range, 3)', respectively. The interquartile range (IQR), which...
Microsoft Excel: Plotting Mean, SD, and SE
First, calculate the mean, SD, and SE of your data. The mean is obtained using the formula `=AVERAGE(range)`, while SD can be calculated with `=STDEV.P(range)` for a population or `=STDEV.S(range)` for a sample. SE is calculated as `=SD/SQRT(n)`, where `n` is the sample size.
To plot these values, use a bar...

