Welcome to the Living Evidence Synthesis Toolkit Living Map of Methods & Guidance.

This living map contains methods and guidance articles about living evidence synthesis (LES), organised by 'LES Types' and 'Version' (see below for further details). The current version of the map (Version 2 - January to December 2026) contains methods and guidance articles about living evidence syntheses, up to 31st December 2025, plus a few such articles published during 2026 (identification of further 2026 articles is ongoing).

Suggested Citation: Shemilt I, Cantrell A, Dwan K & Noel-Storr A. (2025). Living Evidence Synthesis Toolkit: Living Map of Methods & Guidance [Web Database]. London: EPPI Centre. Available (open access) from: https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/research/living-evidence-synthesis-toolkit

Initially, the scope of this living map encompasses any published articles about the methods, and/or guidance on the methods, used to plan, conduct, report (disseminate) and/or use the findings of LES of any kind. LES is a general approach to keeping evidence synthesis continually updated with new evidence as it becomes available. Common types (outputs) of LES include: living evidence maps, living systematic reviews, and living guidelines. Emerging new types (outputs) of LES include: living economic models and living health technology assessments. However, in principle, any type of evidence synthesis can be conducted in living ‘mode’, and ‘living’ is therefore conceptualised as a ‘mode’ of evidence synthesis, like ‘rapid’. Also, more than one type (output) of LES may be produced within the scope of the same research project, i.e. these ‘LES Type(s)’ are not mutually exclusive.

Eligible articles have been identified for the map by experienced researchers, who selected relevant articles from among the results of searches of the OpenAlex dataset and Boolean searches of Medline (Ovid SP) and Embase (Ovid SP) :

Dates of Last Searches:

Search Strategies:

OpenAlex:

- Boolean Search:

• "living systematic review" in the Title field

• "living evidence map" OR "living map" OR "living systematic map" in the Title or Abstract field

- Network Graph Searches

- Auto-Update Search

MEDLINE (Ovid SP):

- Boolean Search:

1 meta-analysis.mp,pt. or review.pt. or search:.tw.

Embase (Ovid SP):

- Boolean Search:

Two researchers independently screened each title-abstract record, with disagreements resolved by discussion and consensus. Eligibility screening is undertaken with reference to these living guidance notes: Guidance Notes (Last Updated: 14th September 2026).

Included articles are currently classified (coded) according to 'LES Type' only (along with 'Version' which shows when included articles were published):

Version

• All Versions

• Version 1 - Up to December 2025

• Version 2 - January to December 2026

LES Type(s)

Methods for continually identifying and classifying studies for this living map will evolve over time. Articles are continually added to this living map as soon as they have been identified and coded.

For all enquiries about this living map, please e-mail Ian Shemilt at the EPPI Centre, University College London.

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 and Care Research (NIHR) Evidence Synthesis Programme (NIHR161485). The funder had no role in the design, conduct, or publication of the content, research, or evidence synthesis.