Systematic reviews require a lot of time and effort to complete; a reasonable time frame is rarely under one year. The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Box 2.3.b, suggests the following timeline to complete a Cochrane Review:
| Month | Activity |
| 1 - 2 | Preparation of protocol |
| 3 - 8 | Searches for published & unpublished studies |
| 2 - 3 | Pilot test of eligibility criteria |
| 3 - 8 | Inclusion assessments |
| 3 | Pilot test of ‘Risk of bias’ assessment |
| 3 - 10 | Validity assessments |
| 3 | Pilot test of data collection |
| 3 - 10 | Data collection |
| 3 - 10 | Data entry |
| 5 - 11 | Follow up of missing information |
| 8 - 10 | Analysis |
| 1 - 11 | Preparation of review report |
| 12 - | Keeping the review up-to-date |
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