A simple exercise, search PubMed for the term ‘rapid review’ and explore the number of results per year:

I’ve only included results from 2000 onwards. You can see a rapid rise from 2012 with a sharp acceleration this year, no doubt linked to Covid-19.

Comparing the numbers with systematic reviews:

2010 – SRs = 6,128 | RRs = 9. So, 680 SRs for every RR.

2015 – SRs = 16,596 | RRs = 48. So, 324 SRs for every RR.

2020 – SRs = 26,707 | RRs = 268. So, 99 SRs for every RR.

We can see where the trend is heading…