Tools & Resources | NIH Library

Software Tools

There are a variety of fee-based and open-source (i.e., free) tools available for conducting the various steps of your scoping or systematic review. 

The NIH Library currently provides free access for NIH customers to Covidence. At least one user must be from NIH in order to request access and use Covidence. Please contact the NIH Library’s Systematic Review Service to request access.

You can use Covidence to import citations from any citation management tool and then screen your citations at title and abstract and then full text levels. Covidence keeps track of who voted and manages the flow of the citations to ensure the correct number of screeners reviews each citation. It can also support single or dual screeners. In the full text screening step, you can upload PDFs into Covidence and it will keep track of your excluded citations and reasons for exclusion. Later, export this information to help you complete the PRISMA flow diagram. If you chose, you can also complete your data extraction and risk of bias assessments in Covidence by creating templates based on your needs and type of risk of bias tool. Finally, export all of your results for data management purposes or export your data into another data analysis tool for further work.

Other tools available for conducting scoping or systematic reviews are:

And check out the Systematic Review Toolbox for additional software suggestions for conducting your review.

Quality Assessment Tools (i.e., risk of bias, critical appraisal)

Background information on this important step of systematic reviews can be found at the following resources:

Grading Tools

• GRADE Working Group

  The working group has developed a common, sensible and transparent approach to grading quality of evidence and strength of recommendations.

• Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine – Levels of Evidence and Grades of Recommendations

Reporting Standards for Systematic Reviews

• AGREE

  The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) Instrument evaluates the process of practice guideline development and the quality of reporting.

• EQUATOR

  Collects guidance documents on reporting systematic reviews and other types of health research

• PRISMA 2020

  Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. PRISMA 2020 was published in 2021 with an revised checklist, flow diagram, and a new elaboration and explanation paper.

• MECIR

  The Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) are methodological standards to which all Cochrane Protocols, Reviews, and Updates are expected to adhere

• RAMESES publication standards: meta-narrative reviews

Online Videos on Systematic Reviews