Why is PROCEED needed?

A system for registration of titles and protocols of evidence reviews is widely regarded as important to avoid duplication of effort and to reduce risk of bias in the conduct and findings of reviews by encouraging the practice of protocol development. Although a system has been established in the health sector for some time (see PROSPERO) no equivalent system is available to support the environmental sector.

Procedures

Authors can register titles and protocols by selecting and completing appropriate templates depending on the type of review (e.g. Systematic Review, Systematic Map, Rapid Review) and the type of synthesis (e.g. narrative, meta-analysis, qualitative) to be conducted. All titles and protocols will be subject to editorial checks before acceptance into the database. Authors may be asked to make revisions before acceptance.

Authors retain rights to their protocols and can also publish their protocol in the journal of their choice should they wish to do so.  Authors can choose to publish protocols in Environmental Evidence subject to peer review, but if the protocol is accepted in PROCEED authors can publish their review reports in Environmental Evidence without needing to first publish the protocol in the journal. For more details of publishing in Environmental Evidence please follow this link 

Any user of PROCEED will be able to search for and download registered titles and protocols

CEE Editorial Management

PROCEED has a panel of editors that carries out basic checks on submitted titles and protocols and requests revisions from authors if necessary. There is no formal peer-review.

To limit the scope of PROCEED, eligibility criteria are set for subject area, questions type and review type. Standards for protocols are set by the templates and checklists and in some cases based on CEE Standards. Eligibility is checked by authors using a checklist system. Checklists for type of review and intention to publish help guide authors to the appropriate template at the outset.