Q: Hi. I am looking for comments or feedback on my working title and objectives for my systematic review.

Detailed Question -

My working title options are:

  1. Influence of Calf Raise Test Parameters on Triceps Surae Muscle Activity: A Systematic Review
  2. Effects of Calf Raise Test Parameters on Triceps Surae Muscle Activity: A Systematic Review

My objective is: This systematic review aims to summarize and discuss the effects of the calf raise test parameters on the triceps surae muscle activity.

The clinical implication is: The findings of this review may help develop more specific and appropriate guidelines in prescribing the calf raises activity.

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

It’s great that you are doing a systematic review and also great that you are seeking inputs on your titling and objectives from other researchers. Before we provide our inputs though, we’d like to suggest a couple of other things, which you may be doing already.

  • Search for systematic reviews on a related registry. This will help you determine whether there are similar other reviews registered there, and if so, how they have drafted their title and objectives. Based on those, you can make necessary modifications to yours.
  • Before starting on your review, register your search protocol on a related registry. This will help you establish primacy for your review and is also necessary before starting your review. Based on a very cursory search on PROSPERO, we couldn’t find any review for ‘calf raise’ and only a few for ‘triceps surae’ (though probably not the same as yours). So, you are good there!

Coming to your query, here are some quick thoughts from our side.

Title

  • It’s great that you have included ‘systematic review’ in the title. It clearly spells out the kind of study.
  • Based on the target journal’s guidelines, you will need to see if the title needs to be title case (as you have presently) or simply sentence case.
  • Between ‘influence’ and ‘effects,’ we are leaning more toward the latter – it’s more specific.

Objective/Implication

The objective is quite similar to the title. Also, the implication is quite straightforward. So, perhaps you could combine this into an ‘outcome.’ You may refer to this example sourced from PROSPERO, but note that this is only an example.

Again, these are only our thoughts. You would know your research best, and need to make the final call. However, if you would like inputs from some more researchers, you may wish to drop your question in Researcher Voice, a group on Facebook for researchers and academics from across the world. Many such inputs are sought and responded to quite regularly there, and they might be able to help you too.

Finally, you may also refer to the following resources for more help with your study:

All the best for your review!

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