True Duplicates
True duplicates are pairs of study records that the Medusa algorithm has identified with high confidence as referring to the same underlying publication. These pairs have similarity scores above the threshold where human review is normally required, but ActiveSLR still presents them to you for confirmation before removing any records from your project.
Opening the true duplicates list
From the Deduplication section of your project, click the True Duplicates tab. The list shows all high-confidence pairs, with a count of how many are pending your action.
Reviewing a duplicate pair
Each row in the list represents a pair of study records. Click a pair to expand it and see the full details of both records side by side, including:
- Title
- Authors
- Year of publication
- Journal or source
- Abstract
Compare the two records to confirm they are the same study. In most cases, differences will be minor - punctuation in the title, author name formatting, or the journal name abbreviated differently across databases.
Confirming a duplicate
If the two records are indeed the same study, click Confirm Duplicate. One record is removed from your project's active set; the other is retained as the canonical record. The removed record is not permanently deleted - it is flagged as a duplicate and excluded from screening.
ActiveSLR retains the record with the more complete metadata as the canonical record. If you have a preference, check which record will be kept before confirming.
Discarding a pair
If you review a pair and determine the two records are not actually the same study - for example, they have similar titles but are different publications - click Discard. The pair is moved to the Discarded tab and both records remain active in your project.
Discarding a true-duplicate pair does not mean the records are unique - it means you have reviewed this specific pairing and judged it to be a false positive. Both records remain in your project and will appear in screening.
Bulk actions
When you have many true duplicates to process, use the Select All checkbox to select all pairs on the current page. You can then click Confirm All to confirm the entire selection as duplicates in one action.
Use bulk confirmation with care. Scan through the pairs first to check for any obvious false positives before confirming in bulk. Confirmed duplicates remove records from the active set, and while this can be undone, it requires additional steps.
After reviewing true duplicates
Once all true duplicate pairs have been confirmed or discarded, the true duplicates count drops to zero. You can then move on to reviewing possible duplicates before proceeding to screening.