When doing a systematic review it is advisable to use a reference management software (Cochrane Handbook, 4.6.6.1). There are various reference management software options available. The University of Tasmania has a site license for EndNote; all current staff and students of the university are eligible to install EndNote software on university and home computers. EndNote is supported by your Learning & Research Librarians.
We also have access to Covidence, an online systematic review tool designed to help researchers with the systematic review process, particularly the screening and data extraction process. Learn more about accessing the UTAS Covidence licence.
The use of a reference managment software such as EndNote is beneficial during a systematic review process. It may help researchers store, organise, and manage the potentially large number of literature found during the search process. Here are some of the EndNote features that are worth exploring:
After running your search in multiple databases, you need to deduplicate the records. You can either do this in Covidence or EndNote.
This helpsheet steps you through the process of using EndNote to deduplicate your records for a systematic review:
The University of Sydney has a subject guide on EndNote for managing systematic review search results with useful helpsheets on creating groups, exporting search results from databases, annotating records with database details, creating and displaying customised fields, finding full-text articles, annotating PDF files and exporting to Excel:
Current staff and students of the University of Tasmania are eligible to install EndNote software on University and home computers. Download instructions can be found on the Download EndNote tab of the EndNote subject guide:
The EndNote subject guide contains introductory guides to Endnote, offers links to online tutorials and details various features of EndNotes:
The University of Tasmania Library offers regular introductory EndNote training sessions, open to all UTAS researchers:
Individual EndNote training can be provided on an ad-hoc basis, please contact the Learning & Research Librarians team:
For information on how to export results from a database to EndNote:
Each database has a limit on how many results can be exported to EndNote:
| Database | Limit |
|---|---|
| CINAHL | 25,000 |
| Ovid databases (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, JBI) | 2,500 |
| PubMed | no limit |
| Scopus | 20,000 |
| Web of Science | 1,000 |
There are many other software options available which have been specifically designed for systematic reviews. See Systematic Review Tools.
