Table 1.

The six-stage approach to conducting a State-of-the-Art review

Stage	Guiding Questions	Examples of thoughts as related to interprofessional education (IPE)
Stage 1: Determine initial research question and field of inquiry	– What is (are) the research question(s) to be addressed? – What field of knowledge and/or practice will the search address?	How has thinking about IPE evolved? What are the modern ways of thinking about and doing IPE?
Stage 2: Determine timeframe	– Engage in a broad-scope overview around the topic to be addressed – What historical markers help demarcate the timeframe of now? – What timeframe can be justified to mark the beginning of the review?	In 2010, the World Health Organization defined IPE [31]. This is a sentinel moment that could be considered the start of modern, state-of-the art thinking on IPE
Stage 3: Finalize research question(s) to reflect timeframe	– Do the broad-scope overview and historical markers change your research question(s)? – Does this information require you to adjust your research question(s)?	What is the state-of-the-art way of conceptualizing and realizing IPE?
Stage 4: Develop search strategy to find relevant manuscripts	– How far back on your timeframe do you need to go to report “this is how we got here”? – How could a librarian consultation enhance your search strategy?	Given the Stage 2 finding, the search strategy will focus on (i) identifying changes in conceptualizing and realizing IPE pre-2010; and (ii) describing how IPE has been conceptualized and realized post-2010
Stage 5: Analyses	– Read the articles to become familiar with the literature – What are the similarities across articles? – What are the assumptions underpinning changes in understanding the topic over time? – What are the gaps and assumptions in current knowledge? – Which articles support/contradict your thinking? – Does the literature reflect the premise you set out to study?	Analysis will identify pivotal moments in the IPE literature, focusing on what came before the 2010 definition, what came after 2010, and what future IPE researchers might consider
	This is how we got here & This is where we are now: – What is the history that gave rise to the modern way of thinking? – Which theories have shaped insights and understandings?
	This is where we could be going – What are the future directions of research? – Do certain authors dominate the literature? – Are there any marginalized points of view that should be considered?
Stage 6: Reflexivity	– Provide a reflexivity description	A robust reflexivity description is provided to explain how researcher subjectivities shaped interpretations of the IPE literature