The Research Pillar II – UG–PG Vertical of Manipal College of Nursing (MCON), MAHE, Manipal, organized a two-day workshop on “Scoping Review” on 14th and 15th November 2025. The workshop was conducted for postgraduate students to enhance their understanding of evidence synthesis and to strengthen their skills in conducting scoping reviews. The programme began with a welcome address by Ms. Pratibha Kamath, Assistant Professor (Senior Scale), Department of OBG Nursing, MCON, MAHE, who also introduced the resource persons and highlighted the importance of scoping reviews in mapping existing literature and identifying research gaps.

The first day of the workshop commenced with a session on “Introduction to Scoping Review” by Mr. Renjulal Yesodharan, Assistant Professor (Senior scale), Department of Psychiatric (Mental Health) Nursing, MCON, MAHE. He provided an overview of the different types of reviews, their components, and the relevance of scoping reviews, explaining how they differ from systematic reviews. He also emphasized how to choose the literature review type. This was followed by a session on “Developing Review Question and Protocol” by Dr. Edlin Glane Mathias, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Technology & Informatics, PSPH, MAHE. She guided the participants in developing research question frameworks & formulating review questions using the PCC framework, provided tips on selecting research questions, introduced scoping review frameworks, and instructed on drafting protocols using the JBI template, as well as understanding the essential elements required for planning and documenting a scoping review.

The next session, titled “Searching for Studies,” was delivered by Mr. Elstin Anburaj S, Research Fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Informed Decision Making, PSPH, MAHE. The session began by explaining the purpose and structure of a literature review, emphasizing the need for clarity in identifying concepts relevant to the review question. He then provided an overview of commonly used health and multidisciplinary databases, discussing their unique features and relevance to different research topics. He also discussed various strategies for literature searching, including database selection, keyword development, Boolean operators, and methods to ensure a comprehensive search process. The day concluded with another session by Mr. Elstin on “Designing the Search Strategies,” in which he explained advanced search techniques, database-specific adaptations, and the importance of maintaining transparency and reproducibility in search strategies. Participants appreciated the practical approach and clarity of the demonstrations.

The second day began with a brief recap of the Day 1 sessions, summarizing the key learnings from the previous day’s discussions on scoping review methodology. Dr. Anil Raj, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical–Surgical Nursing at MCON, MAHE, who then commenced the first session of the day, focusing on two key components of the scoping review process: deduplication and data extraction.

Dr. Anil emphasized the importance of registering review protocols on platforms like PROSPERO to prevent duplication and maintain global standards. He demonstrated how to manage duplicate citations and introduced tools such as Covidence and Rayyan, conducting a hands-on session on using Rayyan to create reviews, upload search results, remove duplicates, and coordinate screening. The second part covered data extraction after full-text screening. Dr. Anil explained how to design a structured extraction form, shared standard formats from Cochrane, JBI, and Campbell, and guided participants in creating an Excel-based sheet capturing key study details. He also emphasized best practices, including operational definitions, trial extraction, and the difference between single and double extraction, along with tools such as Epi-Reviewer. Overall, the session provided a clear and practical understanding of organizing a search and extracting data effectively.

The session, titled “Collating, Summarizing and Reporting,” was led by Ms. Mitchelle Shilpa Lewis, Lecturer, Department of Fundamentals of Nursing, MCON, MAHE. She discussed narrative synthesis, thematic organization of extracted data, and methods of presenting effective results through tables, figures, and summaries. The final session of the workshop, also delivered by Ms. Mitchelle, focused on “Reporting Guidelines for Scoping Review,” where she highlighted the use of the PRISMA-ScR checklist and emphasized the importance of clarity, completeness, and systematic documentation in reporting scoping review findings. She also shared examples of well-reported reviews to illustrate best practices.

A total of 35 PG students attended the workshop. During the feedback, attendees expressed that the workshop was well organized, systematic, and highly beneficial in helping them understand the step-by-step process of conducting a scoping review.

Ms. Pratibha Kamath, Assistant Professor (Senior scale), Department of OBG Nursing, MCON, was the convenor of the two-day workshop, guided by Dr. Tessy Treesa Jose, Professor & Associate Dean, MCON & the Head of Research Pillar II, MCON, MAHE, Manipal. The event concluded with a vote of thanks, acknowledging the contributions of all resource persons and participants.