How to create and manage full text exclusion reasons

What are full text exclusion reasons?

Full-text exclusion reasons allow you and your team to record exactly why a study was excluded during full-text review. Having a consistent list helps ensure all reviewers apply the same eligibility criteria when making exclusion decisions.

During full-text review, you’ll be asked to select a reason whenever you exclude a study. You can customize this list to match your review’s eligibility criteria, and reorder exclusion reasons at any time by dragging and dropping them into your preferred order.

We recommend ordering exclusion reasons by importance. This helps reviewers select the most appropriate reason quickly, leading to more consistent exclusions and fewer conflicts across reviewers.

There are two ways to customize the list of full text exclusion reasons:

Settings

1. Go to Settings

2. Select the Eligibility Criteria tab

3. Click Full-text exclusion reasons button in top right corner

4. Add, delete, or reorder reasons in the list

5. Click Done to save your changes
    

During full-text review

When excluding a study, you’ll be prompted to select a reason for exclusion.

To add or update reasons:

1. Click Exclude on the study you want to exclude

2. In the dropdown menu, select Edit this list

3. Add, delete, or reorder reasons as needed

4. Click Done to save your changes and return to full text review