Conducting a rapid review for quick turnaround knowledge synthesis

The increase of information in recent years have led to different types of information synthesis such as systematic or literature reviews. In many circumstances, this information synthesis needs to be expedited in order to meet the rushed needs of practitioners, researchers and decision makers. In these scenarios, a rapid review can be deemed beneficial for the immediate need for acquiring information. A rapid review can be defined as a type of knowledge acquisition and synthesis (much like systematic reviews) where certain elements of the systematic review are simplified and/or omitted, such that information can be gathered in a time sensitive manner. A step-by-step guideline is provided in this paper as an introduction to those who are interested in conducting rapid reviews in order to meet the time sensitive needs of information. To help better understand the intricacies to conducting a rapid