Construct individual search strategies for Medline, Embase, Cochrane, PubMed and any other relevant databases (PsychINFO, ClinicalTrials.gov, ICTRP, CINAHL, etc.)
Run your searches in all databases on the same day
Search grey literature (association websites, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations, contact researchers in the field)
Export all citations to a citation manager (EndNote, Rayyan, Covidence, DistillerSR)
De-duplicate records, keeping track of original numbers found, duplicates, and numbers kept after de-duplicating (PRISMA Flow Diagram)
Screen citations by title/abstract using inclusion/exclusion criteria
Obtain full-text of possibly relevant citations
Screen citations a second time by full-text. Record reasons for each excluded study. (PRISMA Flow Diagram)
Extract data from studies
Evaluate the quality (Risk of Bias) of studies (Cochrane's RoB Tool)
Tabulate characteristics of included studies
Extract data and summarize findings
Write article (PRISMA checklist, IThenticate)
Update searches if it's been more than 6 months and add relevant studies
Submit to journal
Time Line
Writing a systematic review often takes more time than many people expect. The Cochrane Collaboration estimates it can take up to a year.