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Systematic Reviews

Instructions and relevant resources for Systematic Reviews

Covidence

Covidence icon

Covidence is an online systematic review program developed by, and for, systematic reviewers. It can import citations from reference managers like EndNote, facilitate the screening of abstracts and full-text, populate risk of bias tables, assist with data extraction, and export to all common formats.

Macquarie University now has an institutional subscription to Covidence. To request access, complete the invitation form available at https://support.covidence.org/help/macquarie-university

Covidence Training & Support

Contact support@covidence.org if you need futher help.

Review Software & Tools

Screening and Data Extraction Tools

Image of a toolkit

Specialised software can assist when screening results. Records (which may be from an EndNote or Mendeley library) can be imported directly into these programs. 

Rayyan

Rayyan logo

Rayyan is a free web application to help systematic review authors create systematic reviews, collaborate on them, maintain them over time and get suggestions for article inclusion.

SR Accelerator

SR-Accelerator

Developed by the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University.

The IEBH SR-Accelerator is a suite of tools to speed up steps in the Systematic Review (SR) process. It is freely available for anyone in the world to use. Simply register via the link below with your name and email address. The SRA is a modular design which means the tools can be incorporated into existing SR workflows and combined with other automation tools.

The suite of tools includes :

  • The Polyglot Search Translator
  • The Deduplicator
  • The Screenatron 
  • The Disputatron
  • ..and more.
Systematic Review Tool Box

SR Tool Box logo

The Systematic Review Toolbox is a community-driven, searchable, web-based catalogue of tools that support various tasks within the systematic review and wider evidence synthesis process.

The toolbox aims to help researchers and reviewers find the following:

  • Software tools
  • Quality assessment / critical appraisal checklists
  • Reporting standards
  • Guidelines

Users can perform a simple keyword (i.e. Quick) search to locate tools, or a more detailed (i.e. Advanced) search allowing users to select various criteria to find specific types of tools.

DistillerSR

DistillerSR logo

DistillerSR is an online application designed specifically for the screening and data extraction phases of a systematic review. Subscription Fee. Additional technical information at: http://www.tectutorials.com/TERDistillerSR.html

OpenMeta[Analyst]

OpenMeta[Analyst] logo

OpenMeta[Analyst] is a completely open-access, cross-platform software for advanced meta-analysis.

Further Reading