Table 2 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

1. Health systems research which examines an interaction of parts (service delivery, information systems, medical products/ technologies, human resources, financing, governance, community/ households) and their interconnections (ideas and interests, relationships and power, values and norms) that come together for a purpose (health)

2. Low and middle income country (LMIC) contexts

3. 2000 onwards

4. English language publication, with American and English spellings

5. Peer review journals

6. Community level health system interventions where communities were substantially involved in implementation or monitoring and evaluation, i.e., going beyond initial consultations for design or formative research. Community was defined as people residing together in a geographical area, a village or a township, because social boundaries are most often manifested in geographic areas, particularly in LMICs. However, articles involving communities organized around a particular health condition but that were not geographically defined were also included. Communities did not include community based organizations and or local administrators who worked in these geographic areas but resided outside them.

1. Basic scientific research, clinical efficacy or effectiveness of treatments/ technologies, measurement and social determinants of population health

2. Editorials

3. Review papers will not be abstracted through the form, but will be reviewed as background material.