Systematic reviews: Screen

Image by Helen Wilding

We strongly recommend screening records in Covidence systematic review software.

This web based program makes the process very quick and easy, as it can be done anywhere with internet access. Reviewers are blinded to other votes. This is how it looks:

Covidence records statistics of each process in accordance with the PRISMA flow chart so that you don't have to.

When two reviewers disagree on whether to include or exclude a record during screening there needs to be a way to break the tie. Common methods include:

• A third reviewer resolves the conflict - this is often a supervisor or senior member of the team who has limited time for the usual screening
• Two (or more) reviewers discuss each conflict until agreement is reached

Whichever method you use, it needs to be consistent and described as part of the methodology.

This is how it looks in Covidence:

Clicking on "Resolve conflicts" takes you to this screen: