Background: To provide useful insights into the design of strategies to better put into practice health research outcomes in the case of cancer, heart disease and sexuallty transmitted infections, we designed a study to identify barriers and facilitators to implement clinical or public health guidelines recommendations. Methods: A literature review protocol was designed and studies were retrieved from the MedLine database for the period 2009-2011. Studies were classified as high, moderate or poor quality according to a specific protocol for each type of study (quantitative, qualitative, review). Results: A total of 164 barriers or facilitators affecting implementation of evidence were identified from 63 studies, although 36.5% were rated as being of poor methodological quality. Excluding the poor methodological quality studies, we saw that aspects related to patients and health professionals have been studied most (although they are analyzed separately rather than at a relational level), while there is a lack of studies focusing on guidelines. Conclusions: The identified barriers and facilitators can be used in subsequent qualitative studies to explore in more depth what makes guidelines difficult or easy to implement. More studies have to be conducted focusing on relational aspects, that is, how patients and professionals interact mutually, and how they interact with environment or organization.