Conducting Scoping and Systematic Reviews With a Focus on Biocultural Research: The SCRIBE Toolkit

Abstract

The SCRIBE (SystematiC Reviews In Biocultural rEsearch) toolkit offers a structured approach for conducting scoping and systematic reviews in biocultural research. It addresses the challenges of synthesizing information, aggregating diverse data, and conducting robust analyses in this field. Biocultural research is vital to anthropology, public health, community health, and policy, as it reveals biological and cultural determinants of health and disparities globally. However, systematic reviews often exclude biocultural factors, leading to biased evidence that overlooks Indigenous, ethnic minority, and small-scale populations. To fill this gap, the SCRIBE toolkit guides researchers in integrating biocultural frameworks into review methodologies. Developed from a comprehensive literature review and a survey of leading journals (2019–2025), it responds to the underuse of biocultural perspectives in formal reviews. The SCRIBE toolkit is composed of six sequential steps: (i) decide on the type of review, (ii) select a suitable framework (e.g., PICOS, PEO, SPIDER, PCC), (iii) develop the search protocol, (iv) title/abstract screening and full-text reading, (v) data extraction, risk of bias, and meta-analysis, (vi) finalize the review. It can be implemented using accessible platforms like Notion and Trello to enhance usability and collaboration or used as a Word file. By mapping biocultural variables into an operational framework and aligning them with established review protocols, the SCRIBE toolkit promotes interdisciplinary, context-sensitive, and equitable research synthesis. It bridges methodological gaps between anthropology, public health, and evidence-based practice, supporting the inclusion of marginalized populations and complex cultural contexts. SCRIBE serves as both a practical tool and a call to broaden the epistemological and methodological boundaries of review science within human biology and related fields.