Assessment of the utility and performance of SORMAS in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review protocol

TL;DR

This paper outlines a scoping review protocol to assess how well the SORMAS digital tool works in low- and middle-income countries for outbreak surveillance.

Contribution

The study introduces a systematic approach to evaluate SORMAS's real-world performance and utility in resource-limited settings.

Findings

The review will map evidence on SORMAS implementation across low- and middle-income countries.

It will identify gaps in research and implementation practices related to SORMAS use.

Findings will guide policymakers and researchers on best practices and areas needing improvement.

Abstract

The Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) is an open source digital tool created to enhance real time surveillance and outbreak response especially in resource poor settings like low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Even though the tool has been deployed in several countries, there is no comprehensive review of the available research reporting its implementation and the evidence on utility and performance as experienced by countries. This review aims to systematically map out available evidence to assess the utility and performance of SORMAS across LMICs systematically.

The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) approach to scoping review. Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Google will be searched as well as relevant grey literature sources. Studies will be included if they described or evaluated the adoption, implementation, utility or functionality of SORMAS in any LMIC. Studies will be excluded if they just mentioned SORMAS as a digital surveillance tool but did not describe or evaluate it. Titles, abstracts and full text screening will be done. Results will be summarized using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Tables and other visual tools will also be used to present the results.

The findings of this review will serve as the foundation for understanding how SORMAS is being used in LMICs and the specified context of implementation, as well as the reported performance. Gaps in implementation and research will also be highlighted. These findings will have important implications for policymakers, implementers, and researchers by highlighting best practices, areas needing capacity strengthening, and gaps requiring further investigation.

10.17605/OSF.IO/DV8RJ.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-025-02980-3.