Living Evidence Synthesis Toolkit

Start Date: June 2025

End Date: N/A - Ongoing

Welcome to the Living Evidence Synthesis Toolkit - a repository of methods, tools and guidance for supporting living evidence synthesis (LES). LES is an approach to keeping evidence synthesis continually updated with new evidence as it becomes available. Currently, the most common types of LES are living systematic reviews (LSRs) and living evidence maps (LEMs). However, in principle, any type of evidence synthesis can be conducted in living mode.

The LES Toolkit is maintained by researchers based at the EPPI Centre, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, UK, on behalf of the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Groups Best Practice Working Group on Living Evidence Synthesis. We welcome feedback and suggestions from users. For all enquiries, please contact Ian Shemilt.

The LES Toolkit currently comprises:

Living Map of Living Evidence Synthesis Methods & Guidance
Introduction to Living Systematic Reviews and Living Guidelines
PRISMA for Living Systematic Reviews (PRISMA-LSR)
Journals Publishing Living Systematic Reviews
Living Evidence Synthesis Research Programmes

See below for further details.

1. Living Map of Living Evidence Synthesis Methods & Guidance

This web database contains published methods and guidance about LES. Access the current version of the living map (web database) here.

2. Introduction to Living Systematic Reviews and Living Guidelines

Journal Article | Elliott 2014 | Living Systematic Reviews: An Emerging Opportunity to Narrow the Evidence-Practice Gap | PLOS Medicine | Open Access

Journal Article | Elliott 2017 | Living Systematic Reviews 1. Introduction: the why, what, when and how | Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | $

Journal Article | Thomas 2017 | Living Systematic Reviews 2. Combining human and machine effort | Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | $

Journal Article | Simmonds 2017 | Living Systematic Reviews 3. Statistical methods for updating meta-analyses | Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | $

Journal Article | Akl 2017 | Living Systematic Reviews 4. Living guideline recommendations | Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | $

3. PRISMA for Living Systematic Reviews (PRISMA-LSR)

Webpage | PRISMA for Living Systematic Reviews (PRISMA-LSR) | Includes an R package and ShinyApp for creating LSR-tailored PRISMA flow diagrams

4. Open Access Journals Publishing Living Systematic Reviews

Journal | British Medical Journal (BMJ)

Journal | Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)

Journal | F1000 Research

Journal | Gates Open Research (Gates Foundation funded research only)

Journal | Wellcome Open Research (Wellcome Trust funded research only)

5. Living Evidence Synthesis Research Programmes

Research Programme | BUcKLES | Bristol-UCL-King's Living Evidence Synthesis Group

Research Programme | GALENOS | Global Alliance for Living Evidence on aNxiety, depressiOn and pSychosis

Research Programme | DESTINY | Digitial Evidence Synthesis Tool INnovation for Yielding Improvements in Climate & Health

Research Programme | ALEC | Australian Living Evidence Collaboration

The LES Toolkit is maintained by researchers based at the EPPI Centre, UCL Social Research Institute, University College London, UK, on behalf of the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Groups (ESGs) Best Practice Working Group on Living Evidence Synthesis. The EPPI Centre's role in this NIHR ESGs Best Practice Working Group is supported through our work for the Bristol-UCL-King's Living Evidence Synthesis Group (BUcKLES) and the London Alliance for Co-Production of Evidence Synthesis (LACES), which are both research programmes supported by grant funding provided by the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Programme. Any views expressed in the LES Toolkit are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.