A scoping review protocol — no findings yet — registering plans to map what evidence exists on these cancers in primary care
Journal: BMJ Open | Published: 2026-03-30 | Type: Scoping Review Protocol | PMID: 41916624 Authors: Sant'Ana Ricardo Souza Evangelista et al. (University of São Paulo; Federal University of Bahia; McGill University; University of Technology Sydney, Australia) Funding/COI: Funding not listed; no competing interests declared
This paper describes a planned scoping review — not the review itself — mapping what the literature says about penile and testicular cancer prevention, early detection, and management in primary healthcare. The authors' stated premise is that no consolidated evidence base currently guides primary care professionals on these cancers. The actual findings don't exist yet; they won't until the review completes.
This is a protocol paper. There are no results to assess. The methodological framework is sound — JBI scoping review methodology is an established standard, and PRISMA-ScR is the correct reporting checklist. Pre-publishing a protocol in a peer-reviewed journal commits the authors to their methodology before seeing results, which reduces post-hoc manipulation of scope or outcomes. That is the entire value of this document.
Six databases plus grey literature is a thorough search strategy. The multi-institutional team spanning Brazil, Canada, and Australia suggests reasonable geographic and clinical breadth.
This paper is a bookmark, not a finding. Publishing a scoping review protocol in BMJ Open is standard practice — it locks in methodology before results arrive — but it contributes nothing to what we know about penile or testicular cancer in primary care. The completed review, when it eventually publishes, may be worth reading if the evidence base turns out to be sparse or contradictory. For now, note the "bowel cancer" typo that sailed through peer review and move on.