Literature Review Tips & Tools
On this guide, we share tips for doing any type of comprehensive literature review and tools that can help in the process.
Organizational Tools
- Bubbl.usFree online brainstorming/mindmapping tool that also has a free iPad app.
- CoggleAnother free online mindmapping tool.
- Literature Reviews from The Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel HillGives several suggestions and descriptions of ways to organize your lit review.
Tools for Systematic Reviews
- Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions"The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official guide that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions. "
- Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) website"PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions."
- PRISMA Flow Diagram GeneratorFree tool that will generate a PRISMA flow diagram from a CSV file (sample CSV template provided)Please cite as:
Haddaway, N. R., Page, M. J., Pritchard, C. C., & McGuinness, L. A. (2022). PRISMA2020: An R package and Shiny app for producing PRISMA 2020-compliant flow diagrams, with interactivity for optimised digital transparency and Open Synthesis Campbell Systematic Reviews, 18, e1230. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1230 - Rayyan"Rayyan is a 100% FREE web application to help systematic review authors perform their job in a quick, easy and enjoyable fashion. Authors create systematic reviews, collaborate on them, maintain them over time and get suggestions for article inclusion."
- CovidenceCovidence is a tool to help manage systematic reviews (and create PRISMA flow diagrams).
**UMass Amherst doesn't subscribe, but Covidence offers a free trial for 1 review of no more than 500 records. It is also set up for researchers to pay for each review. - PROSPERO - Systematic Review Protocol Registry"PROSPERO accepts registrations for systematic reviews, rapid reviews and umbrella reviews. PROSPERO does not accept scoping reviews or literature scans. Sibling PROSPERO sites registers systematic reviews of human studies and systematic reviews of animal studies."
- Critical Appraisal Tools from JBIJoanna Briggs Institute at the University of Adelaide provides these checklists to help evaluate different types of publications that could be included in a review.
- Systematic Review Toolbox"The Systematic Review Toolbox is a community-driven, searchable, web-based catalogue of tools that support the systematic review process across multiple domains. The resource aims to help reviewers find appropriate tools based on how they provide support for the systematic review process. Users can perform a simple keyword search (i.e. Quick Search) to locate tools, a more detailed search (i.e. Advanced Search) allowing users to select various criteria to find specific types of tools and submit new tools to the database.
Although the focus of the Toolbox is on identifying software tools to support systematic reviews, other tools or support mechanisms (such as checklists, guidelines and reporting standards) can also be found." - AbstrackrFree, open-source tool that "helps you upload and organize the results of a literature search for a systematic review. It also makes it possible for your team to screen, organize, and manipulate all of your abstracts in one place."
-From Center for Evidence Synthesis in Health - SRDR Plus (Systematic Review Data Repository: Plus)An open-source tool for extracting, managing,, and archiving data developed by the Center for Evidence Synthesis in Health at Brown University
- RoB 2 Tool (Risk of Bias for Randomized Trials)A revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials
Rayyan
- Rayyan"Rayyan is a 100% FREE web application to help systematic review authors perform their job in a quick, easy and enjoyable fashion. Authors create systematic reviews, collaborate on them, maintain them over time and get suggestions for article inclusion."
UMass Amherst now has an Enterprise Membership to Rayyan!
This gives us access to premium features, including
- PICO highlights & filters
- PRISMA flow diagram generator
- Mobile App (unlimited use)
- Auto-resolver
- Training for students & for experts
- Highest tier of support
New users need to sign up for an account using their umass.edu email and then will automatically get an Enterprise account with all the associated benefits.
Users will then use the "Sign in with Enterprise ID" option on the Sign In page to get to their account.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS WITH SCREENSHOTS TO COME!
Existing account holders that signed up with their umass.edu email address will automatically be upgraded in early September.
If you want to do it before then (or if you signed up using a non-UMass email account):
- Make sure that you are using your umass.edu email address for your personal account. (Click the icon next to Settings at the top right then on your title & name to get to account details, where you should be able to update your email.)
- Sign out of your Rayyan account.
- On the Sign In screen, instead of entering your Email and Password, go down to the “Sign in with Enterprise ID” button.
- Enter your UMass email.
- That should be it! You should see your existing reviews and see Enterprise next to rayyan on the title bar across the top and the icon on the far right next to Settings should be purple and when you click it, show Enterprise under your name.
Here's a PDF of the slide deck from our Getting Started with Rayyan workshop. We plan to record the November workshop and will embed that recording here, too.
- Last Updated: Oct 29, 2024 1:43 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.umass.edu/litreviews
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