Overview
Where Rayyan focuses on screening, Covidence manages the entire systematic review: title/abstract screening, full-text assessment with exclusion reasons, risk-of-bias assessment, and structured data extraction — with the PRISMA flow diagram maintained automatically throughout.
Why researchers use it
- Full pipeline — one tool from import to extraction table
- Automatic PRISMA — the flow diagram numbers update as you work
- Cochrane pedigree — the workflow matches published methodological expectations
Getting started
- Check institutional access — many universities hold site licenses.
- Create the review, import search results, and configure your screening team.
- Define your extraction template early — retrofitting fields mid-review is painful.
The honest review
Strengths. The structure keeps multi-person reviews methodologically honest; extraction templates and dual-reviewer workflows produce audit-ready output that reviewers recognise.
Limitations. Genuinely expensive without institutional access (hundreds of dollars per review), and the rigid pipeline can feel bureaucratic for scoping or rapid reviews.
When NOT to use this
For a scoping review or a solo project, this is process overhead you don’t need — Rayyan plus a good spreadsheet gets you there. Use Covidence when the review is registered, funded, or Cochrane-bound.