Getting Started with the Screening Tool

What the tool is and how it runs

The screening tool is a web application for title and abstract screening in systematic reviews. Your records are parsed in the page, and as soon as you import them the review saves to your account automatically and keeps saving as you screen. Saved reviews are private: only you and the people you invite to a review can see it. Screening is free with no time limit and no credit card.

The workflow follows six numbered steps: set up (import your search results, set relevance criteria, and rank), screen each record, full text, extract and appraise, synthesize, and report. A short built-in walkthrough is available at any time from the help button in the header (the button titled How to use).

Try the demo project first

If you have no export file handy, the fastest way to see the tool working is the built-in demonstration review. It loads a real 200-record sample from a published post-traumatic stress disorder systematic review, prefills the eligibility criteria, and ranks the records by relevance so you can start deciding immediately.

1. Open the screening tool. With no records loaded you will see two buttons in the empty state.
2. Click Try a demo project. The records, criteria, and relevance ranking load automatically.
3. Screen a few records with the Include, Maybe, and Exclude controls, or the keyboard keys i, m, and e.
4. Click Exit demo when you are done, then import your own search results with Upload files.

Import your own records

Click Upload files and choose one or more export files from your database searches. The free tier imports RIS, PubMed .nbib and MEDLINE, CSV, TSV, and Excel files; BibTeX and EndNote or PubMed XML are added on the Pro plan. Multiple files merge into one project and duplicates are flagged automatically. You can also click Paste, drop raw RIS or PubMed MEDLINE text into the box, and click Import pasted text.

The dedicated importing guide covers every format, the direct database connectors, and citation chasing in detail.

Make your first decisions

Enter your criteria in the Relevance criteria section: Include concepts (one per line, commas for synonyms) and Exclude signals (highlighted red and flagged, never auto-removed). Click Rank by relevance to order the list so likely includes surface first. Then work through the records: every decision is yours, and ranking never hides or excludes anything on its own.

Decisions are saved as you go, to your account and in your browser. Use Decisions CSV to export your calls at any point, or Download project file to save the whole review as a file you can reload later with Open project file.

Save to the cloud and free tier limits

Reviews save to your account automatically once you import records, so you can reopen a review on any device from My saved reviews in the header. A review stays only in this browser when it is the demo review, when it is over your plan's limit, or when you turn on Keep reviews in this browser only in Preferences.

The free plan includes up to 3 cloud-saved reviews with up to 20,000 records and 2 reviewers each, plus one named pilot sample per review. A review over the limit stays in your browser, where screening has no record limit. Full-text include and exclude decisions are free as well. Pro removes the cloud review cap, raises the record limit to 25,000, and unlocks the full-text PDF viewer, data extraction, meta-analysis, and custom exports.

Using the tool on a phone

The tool runs in a phone browser. Large reviews, above about 2,000 records, run best on a computer, because a phone browser can run short of memory and may reload the page.

Your decisions save to your account as you go, so nothing depends on one device. If a large review will not open on your phone, sign in on a computer and open it from My saved reviews.