D: Screening Step

There are two types of screening

1: Screening the title and abstract of search results

The searches are sensitive, which means you will get lots of noise and irrelevant results. That’s why we always have to screen search results against your eligibility criteria (inclusion and exclusion criteria).

If you are using a reference management program such as EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, CITAVI, etc., then you could create three folders or groups:

1.1: Relevant

If the search result is relevant, then you add it to this folder.

1.2: Irrelevant

If the search result is irrelevant, then you add it to this folder

1.3: Unclear

If the information provided in the title and abstract is not enough to decide the relevance of the results, then you keep it in this folder.

2: Screening the full-texts

You will need to obtain the full texts of the Relevant and Unclear folders and check if they meet your eligibility criteria. There are several ways to get the full texts.

When you are in the full-text screening step, you will end up having some or all of the following folders/groups:

2.1: Included studies

If the study meets your eligibility criteria, then you add it to this folder.

2.2: Excluded studies

If the study does not meet your eligibility criteria, then you add it to this folder.

2.3: Ongoing studies

If the study meets your eligibility criteria but you realize it hasn’t been completed yet, then you add it to this folder.

2.4 Awaiting studies

Sometimes, you can’t decide if the study should be included or excluded because of the lack of/insufficiency of the information provided in the full text. Then you add the study to this folder.