Table 1 Concepts and associated terms used as search terms in the literature search

Community Engagement

"Community Networks"[Mesh] OR "Community "[text word] OR “Communities” [text word] OR "Community Research Planning"[Mesh] OR "Community-Institutional Relations"[Mesh]

Process

Process OR Strategies OR Approaches

Community Engagement Outcomes

“Research Partnerships”, Accountability, “Project Ownership”, “Community Empowerment”, Sustainability

Research Settings

"Health Services Research" [Mesh] OR "Community-Based Participatory Research" [Mesh] OR "Operations Research" [Mesh] OR “Qualitative Research” [Mesh] OR "Evaluation Studies as Topic" [Mesh] OR "Evaluation Studies" [Publication Type] OR "Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms" [Mesh] OR "Program Evaluation" [Mesh]

LMICs

"Lower-middle-income economies"[tiab] OR “low income economies”[tiab] OR "Developing countries"[mh] OR "developing countries"[tiab] OR "developing country"[tiab] OR "under-developed countries"[tiab] OR "under-developed country"[tiab] OR "third-world countries"[tiab] OR "third-world country"[tiab] OR "developing nations"[tiab] OR "developing nation"[tiab] OR "underdeveloped nations"[tiab] OR "third-world nations"[tiab] OR "third-world nation"[tiab] OR "less-developed countries"[tiab] OR "lessdeveloped country"[tiab] OR "less-developed nations"[tiab] OR low and middle income countries[tiab] OR lmic[tiab] OR low income country[tiab] OR low income countries[tiab] OR lower income countries[tiab] OR middle income country[tiab] OR middle income countries[tiab] OR lower middle income country[tiab] OR lower middle income countries[tiab] OR “Afghanistan” … Zimbabwe[tiab]