Support

Information specialists at the University of Twente can assist with planning, conducting, and reporting systematic reviews and other types of research reviews. To learn more about conducting systematic reviews, check out this excellent LibGuide from the University of Michigan, take our course on (systematic) literature reviews, or contact your information specialist to request individual or group training. Click here to watch a recording of an earlier Covidence training session.

What is Covidence

Covidence is a web-based tool that will help you through the process of screening your references and keeping track of your work. It is particularly useful for researchers conducting a systematic review, meta-analysis or clinical guideline.

In Covidence you can:

  • Import citations - 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.
  • Upload PDFs - 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 research question. Customisable extraction forms means you only spend time extracting what you need
  • Assess risk of bias - Automatically populate your risk of bias tables by highlighting and commenting on text directly in your PDF.
  • Do 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, so two (or more) reviewers can screen and assess the references.

 

How to join the UT's Covidence institutional license

You can create your personal sign-in information with Covidence before or after joining the institutional subscription. 

  1. Request a Covidence account via infospecs-bms@utwente.nl OR use the self-sign-up link* (located further down this page)
  2. Accept the invitation that will be sent to your email subsequently
  3. Log in to your existing Covidence account or sign up for a new account
  4. If you have already joined the UT Covidence account, then you can log into Covidence with your email and password and proceed to the platform.

 

Creating a review using the UT unlimited license

After clicking the link “Create new review” you will have the option to use your personal account license or select the UT account.

Reviews created under the institutional license will be visible to the administrators of the UT-BMS Covidence account. Your personal account review(s) will only be seen by you.

We kindly ask you to register your new reviews by following these steps:

  1. Sign in to Covidence
  2. Select "Start a new review"
  3. The naming convention for a review should be as follows:

'Your Faculty'/'Name of your review'

Example

BMS/First selection TB studies

   4. Under 'Which account do you want to use?' - select "University of Twente"

Once you have created a review or accepted an invitation to another UT account review, the title will appear in a separate section on your account homepage:

 

SELF-SIGN-UP - https://app.covidence.org/organizations/adgp7/signup

 

Getting started with Covidence

Covidence offers short video tutorials in their Knowledge Base to help you get started. See Getting Started with Covidence and Main steps in Covidence.

Logged into your Covidence account and need help? you can easily access support and comprehensive help guides in our Knowledge base by clicking the 'Need help?' button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

 

Working with review team members from other institutions?

With your review made through the institutional license, you can invite non-UT reviewers to work with you on the review.

Enjoy your review!