Welcome!
Defra Library can offer staff in Core Defra, APHA and Natural England access to Covidence.
Covidence is a web-based software platform that streamlines the production of systematic reviews. It can also be used in other types of reviews e.g. scoping review or rapid evidence review. It supports reference screening, full-text review, risk of bias assessment, extraction of study characteristics and outcomes, and the export of data and references.
Defra Library provides access to 40 reviews each year.
If you’d like to test Covidence and see if it’s the right resource for your project, please follow the instructions below to create your Covidence account. Then select ‘Try our demo review’ option rather than creating a brand new review.
How to access the Defra Library licence account with Single Sign-On (SSO):
Access is only valid with the following affiliated email address domains: @apha.gov.uk, @defra.gov.uk, @naturalengland.org.uk
New Users - If you are completely new to Covidence and have not signed up with your affiliated email address.
Go to your Defra Library SSO sign-in page, this will prompt you to log in with your OpenAthens username and password
Enter your credentials; use your affiliated email address
If you have entered the correct credentials, you will be redirected back to Covidence; a merge window prompt will appear to check if you have an existing account with a different email address to merge your work into one place. Select ‘Create a New Account’
You’ll be asked for a few additional details to get started. Fill these in and click 'Create account'
Existing Users (Option 1) - If your existing account in Covidence is with a non-affiliated email address (i.e., an email address not from Defra, APHA or Natural England):
Sign in to your account using the current email and password via the sign-in page
Go to Profile settings and add your affiliated email address
Verify the email through the confirmation message sent to the email address you added
Sign out of Covidence
Go to the Covidence SSO Sign-in page
Enter your affiliated email address
You will be redirected to the Defra Library SSO login page, and enter your OpenAthens username and password
If you have entered the correct credentials, and the affiliated email matches the one added, your existing account will link automatically; if not, you may see the merge window prompt from 'New Users' above
Existing Users (Option 2)- If you have previously used Covidence and already have a user account associated with your Defra, APHA or Natural England email address, simply log in via SSO and reach your existing account. You will see all of your existing reviews and subscriptions.
Go to the Covidence SSO Sign-in page
Enter your affiliated email address
You will be redirected to the Defra Library SSO login page, and can enter your OpenAthens username and password
If you have entered the correct credentials, you will be redirected back to Covidence to your existing user account associated with your affiliated email address
Alternatively, users can sign in via the Covidence sign-in page and select the "Sign in with SSO" option.
Note: If you have gone to the “Start a New Review” page and the Defra Library licence is missing, where you think it should be available, check first to ensure you have signed in to Covidence via OpenAthens.
Starting a review using the Defra Library licence:
Sign in to Covidence
Select “Start a new review”
Under 'Which account do you want to use?', MAKE SURE to select - "Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"
Please note: If you have started a review in the wrong licence, please contact support@covidence.org
Reviews created using the organisation's account will be visible to Covidence subscription administrators. Reviews created using your user account are only visible to you.
Once you have created a review or accepted an invitation to another account review, the title will appear in a separate section on your account homepage:
More about Covidence
The interface is intuitive and suitable for both new and experienced reviewers. Covidence can save time on repetitive review tasks, enabling faster review production and more time for analysis and interpretation.
Discover more about Covidence on each link:
Import references - Covidence works seamlessly with your favourite reference managers like EndNote, Zotero, RefWorks, Mendeley or any tool that support RIS, CSV or PubMed XML formats. Covidence can automatically remove duplicates for you.
Screen title & abstract - Breeze through screening with keyword highlighting & a lightning-quick interface. Covidence keeps full records of who voted and supports single or dual screeners.
Bulk PDF import - Transfer PDFs stored in your reference manager to Covidence in a few clicks.
Screen full text - Decide quickly on studies in full text. Capture reasons for exclusion and any notes so you can resolve any disagreements quickly, with a click of a button.
Create forms - Be in control and stay focused on your PICO question. Customisable extraction forms mean you only spend time extracting what you need.
Customise risk of bias - Automatically populate your risk of bias tables by highlighting and commenting on the text directly in your PDF.
Conduct data extraction - Extract data efficiently with a side-by-side view of your customised form and PDF. Then, when you are done, easily compare your form with other reviewers.
Export - Covidence exports to all the common formats so you can continue your review in your preferred software.
Collaborate - You can invite other reviewers (including external colleagues) to work with you on the project.
Support from Covidence
Covidence offers a range of available resources and support to help you along the way with your systematic review process.
To get familiar with how a Covidence workflow works, you can try our pre-set Demo review. This will allow you to gain hands-on experience and better understand the process. You will find it at the bottom of your dashboard once you have signed in. Give it a go and feel free to explore!
Getting started with Covidence - video tutorials that guide you through the initial area to get you started.
Covidence Knowledge Base - home to all of our comprehensive articles, instructions and advice to FAQs.
Covidence Academy - Learn and understand the essentials of systematic reviews and gain insight with expert-led training and content to guide you through every step of the review process.
Covidence eBook Collection - Download our step-by-step practical guides for Systematic Review Success.
Monthly Open Training Webinars - Join our Community Team for free webinars (registration required) or watch our recent recordings without delay.
Online Support Team- contact our team directly for support on your review by emailing support@covidence.org
When logged into your account, you can also easily contact the Support Team via the chat icon in the lower right corner, and the comprehensive articles from our Knowledge Base from the '?' icon on the upper right corner of the window.
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Maintaining Access to Your Work When Leaving the Organisation
You are required to add a secondary email address before leaving, as this will ensure uninterrupted access to your Covidence account.
If you need to log back into your Covidence account but cannot because you don’t have access to your Defra, APHA or Natural England email address any more, please get in touch by emailing support@covidence.org.