Since 2004, DECIT supports the production of SR by teaching and research institutions in Brazil. However, these studies were guided by international recommendations causing some variability in the execution and presentation of results. In order to standardize and equalize the elaboration quality of SRs throughout Brazil, DECIT requested to research institute Hospital do Coração Hcor draft this guideline. The initiative was funded by the Support Program for the Institutional Development of the Brazilian Public Health System. The guideline was based on two international guidelines used in clinical research: The Cochrane Reviewer's Handbook and a guideline prepared by the The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. The aim of the guideline was to introduce the main concepts through a language that is more simple and accessible to health care professionals, familiar or not with the methodology of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. This guideline covers the three phases of a SR: planning, production and reporting of the SR. It does not take into account the impact of the type of question in the review process and does not exhaust all the mechanisms necessary in order to understand and perform a meta-analysis. It also presents the detailing of some fundamental concepts needed to conduct the systematic review in the form of appendices. In 2011, it was given the first version of the guideline. DECIT was responsible for the review and publishing of the final document. In 2012, the first issue of the guideline was published. The importance of the guideline is to orient and standardize the preparation and production of a quality SR, mainly due to the gap that exists in the national literature.