How do I audit whether a brief's included sources match its stated scope?

Audit a brief's sources by restating its scope criteria as testable rules, then checking each included source against them and logging every mismatch in a scope-audit table with a keep-or-remove decision.

Turn scope into testable rules

A brief's scope usually names population, intervention or topic, study or document type, date range, language, and setting. Rewrite each as a yes/no test a reviewer can apply to a title, abstract, or record. PRISMA 2020 treats transparent reporting of what studies were found and included as part of the review record, so the audit table becomes part of that record.

Run the audit

1. List every included source with its identifier, then apply each scope rule and record pass, fail, or unclear. Expected result: a per-source verdict against each criterion.
2. Flag any source that fails a rule or cannot be assessed from available metadata. Expected result: a candidate list of out-of-scope sources.
3. For each flagged source, record the specific criterion it breaches and decide keep or remove. Expected result: a scope-audit table with a documented rationale per row.
4. Recheck the search and selection record for sources the criteria should have excluded earlier. Cochrane Handbook Chapter 4 covers planning searches, selecting sources, documenting searches, and managing records, which gives the trail to compare against.

Decide keep or remove

Keep a source when it meets every stated criterion, or when the brief explicitly allows an exception such as a foundational older paper. Remove it when it breaches a criterion and no documented exception applies. Record the decision and reason in the table so a handoff reader can see why each source stayed or left.

Handle unclear cases

When metadata is missing or a source sits at a boundary, mark it unresolved and check the full text or the original record before deciding. Use the result to identify records for manual verification; WisPaper TrueCite checks BibTeX against real academic databases to flag references that need verification, which helps confirm that included sources are real records before the scope decision is finalized.