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Covidence

This guide will help you set up an account in Covidence and provide basic instructions for how to screen studies for a review.

Import References

Before you can start screening, you will have to import the references you found during your searches. This video will demonstrate how to do that using EndNote. You can also find instructions in this help document and troubleshooting FAQ

Screen Titles and Abstracts

To get started, click on Title and Abstract Screening to open the summary window, which provides a status update about this stage of the review. Next, click on the blue Continue button to see the references that need to be reviewed. You can change the order of the references if you'd like as well. 

title and abstract screening status window

Next, read the title and abstract for each reference and select one of the following:

  • No - Means that the article does not meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria and should be excluded from the review.
  • Maybe - Means that there is not enough information at this stage to make a final decision. 
  • Yes - Means that the article meets inclusion/exclusion criteria and should be moved to the full text screening stage.

individual article choices

If you are the first person casting a vote on a reference, the citation will move to your "Awaiting Other Reviewer" list. You can continue to review other references. 

If you are the second person casting a vote on a reference, it will move forward. Where the reference is moved forward to depends on its previous votes:

  • Both reviewers vote "no" - the reference is moved to the "Irrelevant References" list, which basically means it is excluded from the review.
  • Both reviewers vote "yes" - the reference moves forward to the full text screening stage.
  • The votes are split - the reference is moved to the "Resolve Conflicts" list where a third person will have to vote.

Please see this article and flowchart for more details about how votes are processed.

All voting is masked, meaning your colleagues will be unable to see your votes until they've cast their own, and vice versa.

 

This video provides an overview of the title and abstract screening process.