What is a systematic review?
A systematic review is a type of evidence synthesis, or, a study of studies. Conducting a systematic review requires deliberate and transparent research methods to identify the totality of a body of evidence, to critically appraise it, and to synthesize the results across multiple studies, and to present/disseminate your findings.
What is meta-analysis?
Depending on the review question, a systematic review may include a meta-analysis (a quantitative analysis), which uses statistical methods to combine results from two or more studies. Meta-analyses can provide insight into study heterogeneity and can also resolve controversies between conflicting studies. A meta-analysis can only be conducted if a systematic review includes studies with appropriate data. Results of a meta-analyses are typically presented in a forest plot.