Title/Abstract Screening
Title/abstract screening is the first screening phase. You review each study's title and abstract and decide whether it is potentially relevant to your review question. Studies you include move forward to full-text screening; studies you exclude are removed from the active pool.
Before you can begin title/abstract screening, you must upload at least one reference file and complete deduplication. See Uploading references and Running deduplication.
Opening the screening queue
In the project-level sidebar, click Title/Abstract Screening. The screening interface opens and shows you the next unscreened study in the queue.
The study card
Each study is presented as a card containing:
- Title - the full title of the paper
- Abstract - the full abstract, if available in the uploaded file
- Metadata - authors, journal, publication year, DOI, and source database
- Decision buttons - Include, Exclude, and (optionally) Maybe
If the abstract was not present in the source file, the card shows a note indicating that no abstract is available. You can still make a screening decision based on the title alone.
Making decisions
Including a study
Click Include (or press the keyboard shortcut) to mark the study as potentially relevant. It will be added to the full-text screening queue after title/abstract screening is complete.
Excluding a study
Click Exclude. A dropdown appears listing exclusion reasons. Select the most appropriate reason for the exclusion. Common reasons include:
- Wrong population
- Wrong intervention
- Wrong outcome
- Wrong study design
- Not a primary study
- Other (with a free-text field)
Choosing accurate exclusion reasons is important - they appear in your PRISMA flow diagram and audit trail. If multiple reasons apply, choose the primary one.
Undoing a decision
If you make a mistake, click the Undo button or press the undo keyboard shortcut immediately after making a decision. This reverts the study to unscreened and returns it to your queue.
Keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts let you screen studies without reaching for the mouse:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
I | Include |
E | Exclude |
U | Undo last decision |
Arrow Right | Next study |
Arrow Left | Previous study |
? | Show shortcuts overlay |
Using keyboard shortcuts can significantly increase your screening speed once you build muscle memory. Most reviewers who use them report completing screening 30–40% faster.
Reviewing past decisions
You can review all previously screened studies from the screening list view. Click the Screened tab to see studies you have already processed, along with their decisions and (for excluded studies) the exclusion reason. You can reopen any previously screened study to change your decision as long as the project has not moved past this phase.
Progress indicator
The top of the screening interface shows your progress: the number of studies screened and the total in your queue. In double-screening projects, this reflects your personal queue - the other reviewer's progress is shown separately on the project overview page.