Full-Text Screening
Full-text screening is the second and final screening phase. Studies that passed title/abstract screening are reviewed again, this time with access to the complete paper. You upload PDFs for each study, read the full text, and make a final include or exclude decision.
Full-text screening becomes available after title/abstract screening is complete (and QC or reconciliation is finished, if applicable). Only studies included during title/abstract screening appear in the full-text queue.
Uploading PDFs
Before you can screen a study with full text, you need to attach its PDF. You can upload PDFs in two ways:
Upload from the study detail
Open any study in the full-text screening queue and click Upload PDF. Select the PDF file from your computer. The PDF is stored and linked to that study record.
Bulk PDF upload
From the full-text screening list view, click Upload PDFs to open a bulk upload dialog. You can drag and drop multiple PDF files at once. ActiveSLR matches each PDF to the correct study record using the filename or embedded metadata.
For best results with bulk PDF matching, name your PDF files using the study's DOI (e.g., 10.1016-j.jss.2023.01.001.pdf) or the study's unique ID from ActiveSLR. This ensures accurate matching.
The PDF viewer
Clicking on a study in the full-text queue opens the screening interface with the PDF viewer. The layout shows:
- The PDF on one side, with navigation controls to move between pages
- The decision panel on the other side, with Include and Exclude buttons and the study metadata
Highlighting and annotations
While reading, you can highlight text in the PDF to mark relevant passages. Highlights are saved to the study record and visible to other team members. Use annotations to leave notes about why a specific section influenced your decision.
Making full-text decisions
The decision process works the same way as title/abstract screening:
- Include - the study meets your inclusion criteria and will be added to the final included set
- Exclude - select an exclusion reason; full-text exclusion reasons tend to be more specific than title/abstract reasons (e.g., "Wrong outcome measure", "Conference abstract without full data")
Exclusion reasons chosen at the full-text stage are reported separately from title/abstract exclusions in your PRISMA flow diagram, giving readers a clear picture of why studies were excluded at each phase.
Flagging paid full-text
If you cannot access a full-text PDF because it is behind a paywall, click Flag as paid full-text. This marks the study as requiring institutional access and removes it from the PDF upload queue. You can still make a screening decision, but the lack of full text is recorded.
Full-text list view
The full-text list view shows all studies in the full-text queue with columns for:
- Study title and authors
- PDF upload status (uploaded, missing, or flagged)
- Screening status (unscreened, included, excluded)
- Assigned reviewer (in double-screening projects)
Use this view to track which studies still need PDFs before you can screen them.