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One-to-One Systematic Literature Review Skill Sets Coaching for African Scholars | AOSARS

One-to-OneSystematic Literature ReviewSkill Sets Coaching for African Scholars

The topic is yours; the method is where reviews stall. A question framed too broadly buries you in thousands of records, a search you cannot reproduce is a search a reviewer will not trust, and a review that reports against none of the PRISMA items is sent back before the findings are read. From the Global South, few scholars are ever shown the method end to end. Your coach walks it with you, on your own review.

One coach, hands-on · Weekly live sessions, up to an hour each · Built for African Master's, PhD and early-career scholars

Why coaching works

Why coaching works, where self-study alone does not.

A method is acquired by doing it under guidance, not by watching. You can read about PICO, PRISMA and risk-of-bias appraisal and still stall when thousands of records and a real review are in front of you. Coaching is where the method becomes yours: you run each step on your own review, your coach gives close feedback in the moment, and each week adds another skill the review depends on, from framing the question and registering the protocol to a reproducible search, transparent screening, appraisal, synthesis and PRISMA reporting. Open any pillar below to see how it moves your review forward.

You do it, you do not just watch

Every module follows the same learning loop. The coach demonstrates the step, you do it yourself on your own review, and you are corrected and checked until it is automatic. You never simply watch a video alone and hope it sticks.

Why this matters: A review step you do not perform yourself is a step you cannot repeat for the next review. Doing it yourself is what makes it yours.

What this means for you
  • The coach demonstrates, then you run the same step yourself, from framing the question to the PRISMA flow
  • You drive the tools; the coach guides you through the work
  • You are corrected as you go, until the step is automatic
  • Hands-on practice, not a passive lecture
  • The skill becomes yours, not the coach's

Across the coaching: this doing-it-yourself loop runs through all eight modules, from framing the question to a PRISMA-reported review.

See the eight modules

One coach in your week

You work with one coach who stays with you for the whole engagement. They come to know your review, your field and your evidence base, so the guidance is specific to you rather than generic advice repeated to a room.

Why this matters: Continuity compounds. A coach who already knows your review can go straight to what matters, week after week.

What this means for you
  • The same coach for the whole engagement
  • Weekly live one-to-one sessions across the engagement, up to an hour, on video, booked via Calendly
  • Guidance tuned to your review, not a generic checklist
  • A coach who has run systematic reviews and knows the pitfalls
  • Momentum built and held across the weeks

Note: your coach never replaces your supervisor or co-authors. They work alongside them, so the review you submit is already sharper.

See the eight modules

Practice on your own review

You practise every step on the document that matters, your own review, or on AOSARS' practice review if you are equipping ahead of your own review. The protocol you write, the search you run, the screening you do and the synthesis you build are all on real work.

Why this matters: A step applied to your own review turns into review progress the same week, not abstract knowledge you still have to transfer.

What this means for you
  • You work on your own review, or a practice review if you have none yet
  • Every session moves your actual review toward completion
  • Steps land in the context where you will use them
  • A practice review is available if you are equipping ahead of your own review
  • Small, achievable progress on the review that counts

The bright line: you drive the work throughout. The coach guides and corrects, but never writes or submits your review for you.

See the eight modules

Correction in the moment

Because the coach reviews your own work, you are corrected the instant a step slips, not weeks later. A review question that is too broad, a search that misses a database, an appraisal that overlooks a bias, all fixed while you are still in the work.

Why this matters: Correction in the moment is the fastest way to build a skill. You do not carry the mistake into the submission.

What this means for you
  • Close feedback, so the coach sees exactly what you did
  • Mistakes caught and fixed as they happen, before they reach a reviewer
  • Feedback on your own review, not on a generic example
  • The hour spent on substance, because your work is reviewed first
  • A written summary of the fixes within five working days

How it lands: you leave each session with three concrete things to do, so the correction turns straight into your next week of work.

See the eight modules

A rhythm that fits a real life

Most scholars are doing this around teaching, work or family. The coaching is built for exactly that. The hands-on practice happens in your own working days, and the one hour with your coach is reserved for substantive work on what you already did, never for catching up.

Why this matters: An hour a week becomes a review submitted, because the rhythm respects the little time a working, teaching or caring scholar can spare.

What this means for you
  • You practise in your own protected working blocks
  • Weekly live one-to-one sessions across the engagement, at a time you choose
  • You send your work by Day 5, the coach reviews it before you meet
  • Book, reschedule and cancel your sessions yourself via Calendly
  • Momentum that fits around work, teaching and distance

Your week, mapped: the switcher further down the page walks through each day, from your practice to your sixty-minute hour.

See the eight modules

Skills you keep for good

The review skills you build in coaching do not expire when this review is finished. Built once, they carry you through the revisions, and through every review you ever run after it.

Why this matters: You are not renting help for one review. You are building a craft that serves every review you ever run.

What this means for you
  • Question framing and protocol registration skills that stay with you
  • Reproducible search and PRISMA screening skills, for good
  • Appraisal, synthesis and PRISMA reporting, mastered
  • Six months of e-learning access to replay every module
  • Independence you keep long after the coaching ends

See the packages: Compare the three coaching packages

See the eight modules
A skill you own, not a service you rent.

Coaching builds the systematic review method and the tool fluency into you, so you can run the work yourself, on this review and every evidence synthesis you do after it. You stay the author throughout, and the skills stay with you for good.

What we coach, module by module

Eight coaching modules, each removes a specific drag on your journey to a finished review.

Every module follows the same loop: the coach demonstrates the technique, you practise it on your own review, and you are corrected until it is automatic. Together they carry you from framing the review question to a PRISMA-reported review ready to publish. The path below moves on its own from 01 to 08; hover the card or use the pause button to take your time, or select any step to jump.

Your journey, 01 to 8

    Your week, with a coach in it

    How an hour a week becomes a finished review.

    Most scholars juggle a review with teaching, work and family, so coaching has to fit a real week. The hands-on work happens in your own working days, where you practise the step and the method on your own review. The hour with your coach is reserved for substantive work on what you already did, never for catching up. Here is what each day looks like.

    Days 1 & 2

    Practise last week's step on your own review

    The first two days are spent doing the thing you and your coach worked through in the session: refine the inclusion and exclusion criteria you agreed, translate a search string to another database, redo the screening on a batch of records, or tidy the extraction table you built together.

    This is the smallest, most achievable kind of progress: applying a step you have just been shown, on the review that matters. Most scholars find these the most productive days of the week.

    • Apply the stepDo the technique on your real review, do not just admire it.
    • Small, sure progressA step you have just been shown, on the review that counts.
    Days 3 & 4

    Advance the review into new territory

    Now the harder practice. You push into new territory: draft the protocol to the PRISMA-P items, build and translate a Boolean search across databases, or run the risk-of-bias appraisal on your included studies, using the process you are building, on your own review or a set exercise.

    This is where the review feels lonely; you sit with the method until it makes sense. Even imperfect drafts are better than none, and your coach will sharpen what you wrote.

    • Defended blocksTwo or three protected hours, around work and family.
    • Draft anywayThe cost of writing nothing is a session with nothing to work on.
    Day 5

    Bring your practice, send your questions

    You send your coach what you practised this week: the protocol you drafted, the search strings you built, the batch you screened, or the extraction table you filled on your own review.

    You add two or three specific questions, the places the step did not click. Sending it by Day 5 gives your coach two full working days to review your practice before you meet, and that is what makes the session substantive.

    • Two or three questionsSpecific gaps, not a wish list.
    • Sent by Day 5So your hour is worked, not wasted on catch-up.
    Day 6

    Your coach reviews your practice carefully

    Behind the scenes, your coach goes through what you practised: noting where the step slipped, which part to demonstrate again, and the hands-on work to do with you tomorrow, the search string to re-run, the appraisal to correct, the flow diagram to fix.

    You are not idle on Day 6. You are reading, practising or resting. But the substantive coaching work for the week is already under way on what you practised.

    • Reviewed beforeSo the hour starts on substance, from the first minute.
    • Worked through afterThe fixes for your session are prepared in advance.
    Day 7

    Your sixty-minute hour, hands-on

    You arrive with your practice already reviewed, so the hour is substantive from the first minute. You work the step together: refine the search, run the screening, sharpen the appraisal or build the synthesis, while the coach guides and you drive.

    You leave with three concrete things to practise for the coming week, so the momentum carries straight into your next working days.

    • You drive, coach guidesThe step done together on your own review.
    • Three next stepsEvery hour ends with clear practice for the week.
    After the session

    A written summary of the fixes

    Within five working days of your session, a written summary of the fixes follows, so nothing from the hour is lost and you can act on it in your own time.

    That summary, plus your three practice tasks, is what turns one live hour into a full week of forward motion, and it repeats, week after week, until your review is finished.

    • Within five working daysThe fixes in writing, yours to keep.
    • Momentum, repeatedOne hour a week, compounded across the engagement.

    Plays through on its own. Hover to pause, or click any day to jump.

    A view of one coaching week. The practice happens in your own review days, and your live hour is reserved for substantive, hands-on work.

    Inside the coaching

    What a session actually looks like.

    Every session runs the same way, so you always know what to expect and how to prepare.

    One-to-oneUp to an hourBy video callClose feedbackYour own work
    What you gain

    What you will be able to do, once the coaching has done its work.

    Coaching builds the systematic review method and the digital literacy your review depends on, into you. These are the skills you walk away able to use yourself, on this review and every evidence synthesis you carry out after it.

    01

    Frame a review question your field will accept

    Turn a broad interest into an answerable systematic, scoping, rapid or narrative review question, with the scope and eligibility criteria that govern the whole review set in advance.

    02

    Write and register a protocol that locks your method

    Draft an a-priori protocol to the PRISMA-P items and register it on PROSPERO or an equivalent route, so your method is fixed before the search and protected from later bias.

    03

    Run a search anyone can reproduce

    Select the right databases and grey literature, build and translate Boolean strings, and record every string, source and date, so your search is reproducible and reportable line by line.

    04

    Screen studies transparently to a PRISMA flow

    Apply your criteria consistently, run dual title, abstract and full-text screening, record every exclusion reason, and produce the PRISMA flow diagram from thousands of records to the studies you keep.

    05

    Appraise quality and synthesise the evidence

    Assess risk of bias with the right tool, weigh certainty in the evidence, and synthesise it narratively, thematically or with meta-analysis basics where the data allow, without over-claiming.

    06

    Report to PRISMA and use the AI assistant safely

    Write the review against all 27 PRISMA items ready for a credible journal, and use the AI assistant for triage and synthesis with verification built in, so no fabricated citation ever enters your review.

    What scholars say

    From the scholars now finishing their own reviews.

    I had a huge topic and no idea how to turn it into a review. My coach showed me how to frame a PICO question and set my eligibility criteria before I searched, and I ended up with a protocol I could register on PROSPERO myself. I made every decision, which is exactly what I needed.
    PhD candidate, Public Health
    East Africa · Coaching
    My search was a mess and I could not have repeated it if a reviewer asked. We rebuilt it together across databases, and I walked away with a documented, reproducible search and a clean PRISMA flow, built by me. The coach guided; I did the work.
    Scholar, Education
    Southern Africa · Coaching
    Risk-of-bias appraisal frightened me, because no one had shown me the tools. My coach walked me through them study by study until I appraised every included study myself. I finally understood what made my evidence trustworthy.
    Researcher, Development Studies
    West Africa · Coaching
    I was tempted to let the AI assistant do everything, until a fabricated citation nearly slipped in. My coach taught me to verify every source myself, and at the end I finished a PRISMA-reported review I can defend. It is my work, and that is why it stands.
    Scholar, Environmental Science
    Central Africa · Coaching
    Coaching packages

    One coaching programme. Three ways to take it.

    All three are built on the same one-to-one, hands-on systematic review skills coaching. They differ in how many of the eight modules they coach live and what comes with them: the foundations package coaches modules 01 to 04, from framing the review question to screening studies to a PRISMA flow; the middle package adds live coaching on modules 05 to 06, appraisal and synthesis, plus six months of e-learning access to modules 01 to 06; and the top package adds live coaching on modules 07 to 08, PRISMA reporting, publishing and the AI assistant, the complete eight-module set, plus six months of e-learning access to all eight modules and a live, scholar-executed protocol registration. You pay to enrol, then book your weekly sessions. Most scholars choose the middle option.

    Core: Foundation Skills

    The foundational set, live
    USD 150

    Live one-to-one coaching on the first four modules, from sharp framing of your review to strategic sourcing of your reference materials and rigorous screening of the studies. You do the work and own every output; we coach the skill.

    • Applied to your own current work: you build and practise each skill on the review you are working on right now, and you own every output
    • Weekly live one-to-one sessions across the engagement, up to an hour each
    • Live coaching on modules 01 to 04: sharp framing of your review question (01), writing and registering your protocol (02), strategic sourcing of your reference materials with a reproducible search (03) and rigorous screening and selection of studies to a prisma flow (04)
    • The coach demonstrates, you practise, you are corrected in the moment
    Enrol now
    Pay in your local currency
    Most chosen

    Pro: Full Review Programme

    The complete skill set, live
    USD 200

    Live one-to-one coaching across all ten modules, from sharp framing of the question and strategic sourcing of your reference materials to citing, formatting, carrying out the review and writing it up for publication. You do the work and own every output; we coach the skill.

    • Everything in Package 1, plus live coaching on modules 05 to 10: sound appraisal of study quality and risk of bias (05), extracting and synthesising the evidence (06), sound citation and referencing with citation software (07), formatting your review to the required standard (08), writing up and publishing the review to the PRISMA standard (09) and using the AI assistant ethically for triage and synthesis (10)
    • All ten modules, 01 to 10, coached live and applied to your own current work, which you keep
    • Taking your finished review to a health journal? The journal-submission side, reporting your review to its health-research standard and rehearsing reviewer response, is coached in our PUC-702 health-publication product; if you are taking that with us, tell us and we will not charge you twice
    • Weekly live one-to-one sessions across the engagement, up to an hour each
    • The coach demonstrates, you practise, you are corrected in the moment
    Enrol now
    Pay in your local currency

    Prime: Plus Peer Reviewer Feedback

    The complete set, plus examiner-style feedback and a reviewer-response rehearsal on your own completed review
    USD 250

    Everything in Package 2, plus peer-reviewer-style feedback on your own completed review draft: your coach reads it the way a journal reviewer would, marks what an editor would challenge, and rehearses your response to those comments with you. You own every decision, and you keep six months of e-learning access to all ten modules.

    • Peer-reviewer-style feedback you own: your coach appraises your completed review draft the way a journal reviewer would and rehearses your response to the toughest comments, something Package 2 does not include, and you make every revision yourself
    • Everything in Package 2: all ten modules, 01 to 10, coached live and applied to your own review through to a submission-ready draft you author
    • Six months of e-learning access to all ten modules, to revisit any skill in your own time
    • The coach guides and corrects; you own every decision and make every revision yourself
    Enrol now
    Pay in your local currency
    Pay in your local currencyPrices are shown in US dollars. Use the selector above to see an indicative amount in your currency; at checkout the exact amount is charged in your local currency by our multi-currency system, with exchange rates updated automatically, so the figure here is indicative. Settlement is by card, bank transfer or mobile money. Not sure which fits, or not ready to commit? Ask us to call you back, or book a fit call below.
    No commitment yet

    Not sure which package fits? Ask us first.

    Two low-pressure ways to explore before you enrol: ask us to call you back on WhatsApp at a time that suits you, or book a fit call to talk it through and review your review question and your search plan together. Neither commits you to anything.

    • It costs nothing to explore
    • You speak with the coach, not a salesperson
    • An honest fit check, with no pressure to enrol

    Ask us to call you back

    Leave your details and the time that suits you. We call you on WhatsApp, so it costs you nothing.

    We call on WhatsApp, on the date and time you choose

    Book a fit call

    Pick a slot yourself on our calendar and we meet by video. We can talk it through and, if you like, review your work together.

    Face to face on videoBring your workNo obligation
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    By video call
    Common questions

    Answers, before you ask.

    The questions scholars ask most before enrolling on the review coaching. If yours is not here, ask before you pay.

    Still have a question? info@aosars.com Chat on WhatsApp: +254 724 800 626

    We answer every enquiry personally, usually within a day, before you commit to anything.

    Is this a coaching programme or a course? +

    It is one-to-one coaching. You work with a coach who, in weekly live one-to-one sessions across the engagement, demonstrates each step of the systematic review method and guides you hands-on through the question, the protocol, the search, the screening, the appraisal and the synthesis while you do the work yourself. That is different from our self-paced courses, which teach the same method as structured modules you study alone. Coaching is the higher-touch, higher-value option for applying the steps to your own review; the courses are the lower-cost way to build the basics. Many scholars use both, in sequence.

    My review is only an idea so far. Is this for me, or only for a review already under way? +

    It is built for both. The eight modules carry you across the full method, framing the question and registering the protocol, a reproducible search, dual screening and the PRISMA flow, risk-of-bias appraisal, extraction and synthesis, and PRISMA reporting. Whether you arrive with a topic still taking shape or a review half run, the coaching meets your work where it is and moves it forward from there, and the top package coaches the complete eight-module method through to PRISMA reporting and publishing, with you authoring and owning every output.

    Will my coach do the screening, appraisal or writing for me? +

    No, and that is the bright line. Your coach explains each standard, reviews your own work and corrects it in real time, but you make every inclusion decision, you appraise every study, and you write every line yourself. The coaching builds your skill and confidence; it never ghostwrites a review or runs the screening on your behalf. That is precisely what keeps the review, and the credit, honestly yours, and what lets you defend it to an examiner or a reviewer.

    Systematic, scoping or another review type. Which does this cover? +

    All of them. The method spine is the same, and your coach helps you choose and run the review type that fits your question: systematic, scoping, rapid, narrative or a qualitative evidence synthesis. Scoping and qualitative synthesis are treated as first-class here, not as a lesser cousin of meta-analysis, so social scientists and health scientists alike are fully served. You choose the frame, PICO, PEO, SPIDER or PCC, and the synthesis, narrative, thematic or the basics of meta-analysis, that your evidence supports.

    Do I need my own topic or data to start? +

    No. If you already have a topic, a protocol or a review in progress, you are welcome to bring it in. If you do not have one yet, you work through an AOSARS practice topic instead, covering the identical question-framing, search, screening, appraisal and synthesis ground. You need only a stable internet connection, a laptop or desktop computer, a working email and a few protected hours each week.

    How does the weekly rhythm work? +

    You practise through the week on your own review, refining the criteria, translating a search string, screening a batch of records or filling the extraction table, then send your work and two or three specific questions by Day 5. You meet your coach for one live hour, up to sixty minutes on video, booked through Calendly, to work the step together. Because your coach has reviewed your practice beforehand, the hour is substantive from the first minute. You leave with three things to practise, and a written summary of the fixes follows within five working days.

    How do I use the AI assistant without risking my integrity? +

    Carefully, and always tool-agnostically. A dedicated module teaches you to drive the AI assistant on the jobs it genuinely helps with, drafting and translating search strings, de-duplicating and pre-sorting records for triage, and clustering themes during synthesis, with the verification guardrail attached to each. You open and confirm every source yourself, you never let a citation the assistant produced into your review without checking it exists and says what is claimed, you keep the search reproducible and human-verified, and you disclose the assistance as method. Verification is itself a taught skill, not an afterthought, and every inclusion and appraisal judgement stays yours.

    How do I pay, and can I use mobile money? +

    You enrol through secure checkout and pay in your local currency, by card, bank transfer or mobile money where it is supported. Payment confirms your place, and we then email you instructions for booking your weekly sessions. If you are unsure which package fits before you pay, email your situation to info@aosars.com or use the no-commitment options above.

    Start today

    Your review moves when you start practising. Choose your coaching package.

    Enrol today and turn a daunting systematic review into a method you can run step by step, one live hour a week, on your own work.

    One coach, hands-on. Weekly live sessions, up to an hour each. Pay in your local currency on mobile money, card or bank transfer.

    One-to-one coaching. Built for African Master's, PhD and early-career scholars. Pay in your local currency.
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