OBJECTIVES: Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) are the most strictly designed and thoroughly organized type of research, but their conduct is time-consuming and costly. A rapid literature review (RLR) is an alternative to SLR that can speed up the analysis of newly published data. This review aimed to identify and summarize available information regarding different RLR definitions and approaches to the methodology.

METHODS: Searches were run in the Medline and Embase databases in November 2022. Additionally, grey literature was identified using Google Scholar. References were screened and the most relevant methodological papers were included in the analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 3,898 records retrieved, 12 articles were included (7 on guidelines, 2 on Delphi consensus, and 3 analysing and assessing different approaches to RLRs). The review showed that a specific definition of RLRs has only been developed in 2021; before that, no unified description was published. Diverse terms were used to describe the RLR, including ‘rapid review’, ‘focused systematic review’, ‘quick scoping reviews’, and ‘rapid evidence assessments’. In terms of methodology, the RLR should be completed within shorter timeframes using simplified procedures in comparison to SLRs while maintaining a similar level of transparency and minimizing bias. Inherent components of the RLR process should be a clear research question, search protocol, simplified process of study selection, data extraction, and quality assurance. No consensus was made regarding the database coverage and the inclusion of grey literature and other sources. Some additional limits (e.g., on language, date, or both) may be applied to the search strategy to reduce workload.

CONCLUSIONS: Although RLR was widely perceived as an approach to accelerate the conduction of conventional SLR, there is a lack of consensus on the best approaches to perform it. The evidence base supporting methods is evolving, and more work is needed to define the most robust tactics.