This is the SWARs Living Map – a continually updated, open-access, interactive web database containing structured records of registered Studies Within Reviews (SWARs).

Each record included in the living map has been coded according to the following characteristics:

Manually assigned based on the registration form:

• Key study characteristics
• Could the study be done prospectively / retrospectively?
• Has the study been done prospectively / retrospectively?
• Could the study be done in a single review, or in multiple reviews?
• Has the study been done in a single review, or in multiple reviews?
• Is the study about planning, conducting, or disseminating evidence synthesis?
• Which stages of the evidence synthesis process does the study relate to?
• Could the study be done in standard, living, or rapid reviews?
• Has the study been done in standard, living, or rapid reviews?
• In which types of evidence synthesis could the study be done?
• In which types of evidence synthesis has the study been done?
• Which methods topic areas does the study fall within?

Pre-populated from the registration form:

• Study Areas
• Sample Types
• Estimated Funding Level Needed
• Intervention or Comparator Index Types
• Method for Allocating to Intervention or Comparator

For several study characteristics (e.g. 'Could the study be done prospectively / retrospectively?' and ‘Which stages of the evidence synthesis process does the study relate to?') all applicable codes have been assigned to each record, so the sum of the frequencies of the codes will invariably exceed the number of records in the current map.

For further information about this living map and its coding scheme, please see 'About this Map' (docx).
 

How to cite this map

Shemilt I, Caldwell D, Edwards D, Halicka M, Harnan S, Clarke M. The SWARs Living Map: A living map of studies within reviews (SWARs). Belfast: Queen’s University Belfast, 2025.
 

How to use this map

There are several ways for users to interact with the SWARs Living Map via this web database and with the coded records of registered SWARs it contains. You can reset the web database at any time, from any screen, by clicking on the ‘Home’ button in the top right-hand corner.

Search

There is a free-text search box at the top of the 'Home' screen. This defaults to searching the title and abstract fields, but specific fields can be selected using the drop-down menu next to it.

Record details view

Clicking on an individual record in any list will show detailed information about that record. This information can be expanded to include all fields of the record. Clicking the 'show coding' button will open up the display to show the individual codes assigned to that record. In every record, the URL field links to the SWAR Store. 

List records and get frequencies

To view a list of all records in this living map, click on the button on the top right-hand side of the screen 'All records'. Every record has been assigned to codes in the expandable lists in the left-hand pane of the web database (on the ‘Home’ screen). If they are not already expanded (default), you can use the black triangles to expand each code set below each ‘parent’ code (the highest level in each code set) to display its 'child' codes. There are up to three further ‘levels’ of ‘child’ codes below each ‘parent’ code– please refer to 'About this Map' (docx) ‘How the records were coded’ for further details of the coding scheme.

Then, for example, to view a list of records that relate to ‘selecting / screening studies / reports’, click on the latter code in the code set named ‘Which stages of the evidence synthesis process does the study relate to?’ and then on the button above the headings 'List records'.

To see how many records have each one of a set of codes assigned to them (frequencies), highlight the 'parent' code (e.g. ‘Which stages of the evidence synthesis process does the study relate to?’) and click on the 'Frequencies' button above. This will open a frequencies table, located below the pre-configured EGMs in the central panel (scroll down). You can then list each set of records by clicking on the corresponding number or switch to displaying the frequencies as a bar chart, or pie chart. If the latter procedure does not work, it is likely to be because there are no records assigned to that ‘child’ code (and there are no records assigned to ‘parent’ codes). To deselect any code, click on another code, or click ‘Home’ to reset the web database.

Browse by year

You can browse the records by year via the bar chart that is permanently displayed in the right-hand panel. Year is based on the ‘Date of idea’ field in each record. Click a bar to display a list of the records from that year.

Export records

Using the buttons at the top of the list to the left-hand side, any list of displayed records can be downloaded as a plain text (Citations), Excel, or RIS file.

Get crosstabs and 'create your own' evidence and gap maps (EGMs)

To show a table of frequencies for all codes in a code set (e.g. 'Could the study be done prospectively / retrospectively?') across the top (x-axis/ columns) and all codes in another code set (e.g. ‘Which methods topic areas does the study fall within?') down the left-hand side (y-axis/ rows), click on the heading for the first code set (headings in the left-hand pane) and, at the bottom right of the screen, click on the 'Set X axis' button; then click on the heading for the second code set (left-hand pane) and click on the 'Set Y axis' button; finally, click on the 'Get Crosstab' button (bottom right of the screen). This will display a matrix of the intersections of the codes in the two selected code sets (i.e. a crosstab). By clicking on the 'Bubble map' button, this matrix can be changed from a table to a bubble map, with bubble size indicating the number of records in each cell. The numbers in the table or the bubbles are clickable, and clicking on them will display a list of the records in that bubble or cell. This list will appear below the table or bubble map. Self-cross tab will display all the options within a category against the same category - for whichever category is selected as the x-axis.

'Segments' can be used to display a third category as different coloured bubbles in each cell of an EGM. 'Segments' can only be selected and displayed for code sets with up to 6 child codes (e.g. ‘Is the study about planning, conducting, or disseminating evidence synthesis?’).

Pre-configured EGMs

There are 6 pre-configured EGMs in this web database that can be displayed by clicking on the 'View map' buttons located directly below this information pane. The title of each pre-configured EGM shows the x- and y-axes (columns and rows) and the 'segments' of each map, which are drawn from the expandable lists in the left-hand pane of the web database. In each pre-configured EGM, records are displayed in bubbles ('segments') in each cell, with the sizes of the bubbles representing the number of articles of each different type. Different bubble colours represent whether the study is about planning, conducting, or disseminating reviews. You can then click on each bubble to list the associated set of records below the map (see also ‘Item details view’ below). Select 'Home' (top right) to return to the ‘Home’ screen. 
 

Acknowledgements

We thank Gerard Savage (Queen’s University Belfast) for his help with hosting this living map in the SWAR Store on the Queen’s University Belfast website.
 

Funding

The authors’ work on this living map is supported by their roles in their respective host NIHR Evidence Synthesis Groups, which are funded by grants awarded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Evidence Synthesis Programme.

Conflicts of interest

None.