SRN and the evolution of international review networks

The Systematic Reviews Network did not start with its current name. It grew out of the African Community for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses — a group formed to close a specific gap: researchers across the continent producing evidence, but too often without the methodological support that makes a systematic review trustworthy and reproducible.

Why the name changed

As the training took hold and the demand spread beyond any single region, the original name no longer described the work. Researchers in South Asia and Latin America were asking for the same support. The network's purpose was never geographic — it was to build durable evidence-synthesis capacity wherever the evidence is needed and the support is thin. The new name reflects that reach.

What stayed the same

The method did not change with the name. The commitment remained what it had always been: reviews registered in the open, searches that others can reproduce, and skills that stay with the researcher rather than leaving when a project ends. Partnerships with universities are the mechanism — each one is a place where the training can be hosted, repeated, and eventually run locally.

The through-line from ACSRM to today is a single conviction: the best way to raise the quality of evidence in a region is to raise the number of people in it who can produce that evidence to standard.