Online tools supporting the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews and systematic maps: a case study on CADIMA and review of existing tools

Kohl, C., McIntosh, E. J. , Unger, S., Haddaway, N. R., Kecke, S., Schiemann, J. and Wilhelm, R. (2018) Online tools supporting the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews and systematic maps: a case study on CADIMA and review of existing tools. Environmental Evidence, 7, 8. (doi: 10.1186/s13750-018-0115-5)

Abstract

Systematic reviews and systematic maps represent powerful tools to identify, collect, evaluate and summarise primary research pertinent to a specific research question or topic in a highly standardised and reproducible manner. Even though they are seen as the “gold standard” when synthesising primary research, systematic reviews and maps are typically resource-intensive and complex activities. Thus, managing the conduct and reporting of such reviews can become a time consuming and challenging task. This paper introduces the open access online tool CADIMA, which was developed through a collaboration between the Julius Kühn-Institut and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, in order to increase the efficiency of the evidence synthesis process and facilitate reporting of all activities to maximise methodological rigour. Furthermore, we analyse how CADIMA compares with other available tools by providing a comprehensive summary of existing software designed for the purposes of systematic review management. We show that CADIMA is the only available open access tool that is designed to: (1) assist throughout the systematic review/map process; (2) be suited to reviews broader than medical sciences; (3) allow for offline data extraction; and, (4) support working as a review team.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding. This work received funding by the EU-FP7 project: GMO Risk Assessment and Communication of Evidence (GRACE); Grant Agreement KBBE-2011-6-311957.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McIntosh, Professor Emma
• Authors: Kohl, C., McIntosh, E. J., Unger, S., Haddaway, N. R., Kecke, S., Schiemann, J., and Wilhelm, R.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment
• Journal Name: Environmental Evidence
• Publisher: BMC
• ISSN: 2047-2382
• ISSN (Online): 2047-2382
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Environmental Evidence 7:8
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License