Viewing Uploaded Studies

Once your Systematic Search file is successfully uploaded, the references are added as studies to your project.

Contents

Viewing Uploaded Studies

How to View Your Studies

In the left-hand navigation panel, click Studies.
Select All Studies.

This table displays all studies currently imported into your project, including those from the latest upload. You can sort, filter, and search this list.

Features Available in the Studies View

Sorting: Click on column headers to sort by different fields (title, authors, year, etc.)
Filtering: Use the filter bar above the table to narrow the list by Search (the systematic search the studies came from) and Inclusion status. When you view a stage’s studies, Your status also filters by your own screening or annotation progress in that stage (in the Studies workspace, your To do, In progress and Completed tabs take its place; see below). Select Clear filters to show every study again.
Studies from one search: On the Searches page, select the studies icon on a search’s row to open the list filtered to that search. The filter is part of the page address, so you can bookmark or share it.
PDF filter (Studies workspace): where your SyRF deployment has the Studies workspace and per-study PDF status switched on, the filter bar also has PDF. Choose one of Any PDF status, Without a confirmed PDF (every study whose PDF isn’t Available, including studies with no PDF), Available, Not yet confirmed (this includes PDFs being checked), Unavailable or No PDF. Studies whose PDF is hosted on another site, or that SyRF couldn’t check, show under Without a confirmed PDF. The choice is part of the page address. Choosing a search in the Searches pane, or All studies, sets the PDF filter back to Any PDF status, and choosing a PDF option closes the study you had open. If SyRF can’t use PDF status at that moment, the PDF filter is switched off and a screen reader announces “PDF status isn’t available, so the PDF filter is off.”
PDF counts in the Searches pane: if you manage searches, each search in the Studies workspace’s Searches pane shows how many of its studies are without a confirmed PDF, for example “812 studies · 85 without a confirmed PDF”. While a search is importing or its PDF upload is running or stopped, the row shows that instead. The counts are refreshed when an import or PDF upload finishes, or when you change a study’s PDF; they don’t change as each check finishes. People who can only see search names see the number of studies only. The Searches page and Overview show the same counts, and on the Searches page each search’s count opens Studies on that search with Without a confirmed PDF chosen (see Studies without a confirmed PDF).
Searching: Use the search box to find specific studies
The Studies workspace’s list: where your SyRF deployment has the Studies workspace switched on, the list works like this:
- Search and filters in one row. Type in Search titles and authors to find studies; select the cross to clear it. Each filter after it is a button with a menu: PDF, Stage (or My studies), Inclusion, and, where they apply, Search and Your status. PDF and Stage let you choose one option; the others have tick boxes, and every option is ticked until you narrow the list. A filter that narrows the list is filled and shows a tick and what you chose, for example PDF: Unavailable. Clear filters shows every study again.
- Sorting. Select a column heading to sort by it: once for A to Z (or lowest first), again for Z to A, and a third time to stop sorting by it. An arrow shows the direction. On a narrow screen, where the headings are hidden, select Sort at the end of the filter row to choose a column and Ascending or Descending, or Clear sort.
- Columns. The list shows more columns as it gets wider: Study and PDF always, then Search, Year, Inclusion status and Journal as there is room. Opening a study’s details or the Searches pane narrows the list, so some columns leave and come back when you close them. To choose your own, select Columns and tick the ones you want; the menu stays open while you tick. Study is always shown. Once you have chosen, the list keeps your columns (scrolling sideways if they don’t fit) until you leave the page or select Reset to default.
- PDF. Each study’s PDF column shows its state in words, such as Available or No PDF · 1 proposed, next to the icon. The words and icon are green when the PDF is available, amber while a proposed PDF waits for review, and red when the PDF is unavailable; the words always say the state, so you don’t need to tell the colours apart. On a wide screen with the study details and the Searches list both open, the list can get too narrow for the words; then it shows just the icon, and you can point at it to read the state. On a narrower screen, where studies show as cards, the words are always there.
Study Details: Click on individual studies to view full details

The study detail in the Studies workspace

Where your SyRF deployment has the Studies workspace switched on, select a study’s title to open its detail beside the list (or in place of it on a narrow screen). The card answers your questions in order:

The header: the study’s title, with its authors, year and journal underneath, so you can check it is the study you meant.
PDF: whether the study has a PDF you can use, first in plain words with an icon (for example Available or Not yet confirmed). Where SyRF checks PDFs, it updates by itself when SyRF finishes a check, except while you have a PDF filter chosen, when the list changes only when you load it. Below that is a line about where the PDF came from or what happens next, then the actions you can take. See Changing one study’s PDF.
Your work (or Review, if you manage searches): first how much there is for you to do (“Work for you in 2 stages”, or “Nothing for you to do”), then one line per stage, in the project’s order, with your status there and a Start or Resume button on each stage where you can review it. The button to pick up first stands out. You see only your own work, never other reviewers’ decisions. If you manage searches, the section starts with the study’s result (for example Included or Not yet decided), and each stage also says how far all reviewers have got. With more than four stages, the ones you have finished fold away behind Show finished stages. When the list is filtered to one stage, the section is about that stage: your status there and its button, with Show your work in other stages to open the rest. If you manage searches, it still starts with the study’s result, then shows that stage first, with Show other stages to open the rest.
Record: the search the study came from (select it to show only that search’s studies; only if you can see search names), the date it was added, and its Study ID, with a button to copy the ID. “Study ID copied” appears beside the button.

Your studies in a stage

Where your SyRF deployment has the Studies workspace switched on, opening a stage in Studies shows your own work in that stage, if you can review it. To open one, select My studies in the filter bar and choose the stage: the menu lists every stage you can review, and All studies takes you back to the whole project. Until you choose one, a line under the filters says “Choose My studies to see your work in a stage.” Once you’re in a stage the button reads, for example, My studies: Title/abstract screening; in a stage you can’t review it shows just the stage’s name. You can also get there from See them all in Studies on the review page. Changing stage keeps your search, title search and PDF filters, and goes back to the first page. In the stage you see:

To do, In progress and Completed tabs above the list, each with how many of your studies it holds. To do is chosen first. It holds the studies you have started and not finished, and the ones you could start now. In progress is only the ones you have started; a screening stage has no half-done screening, so it shows 0 there. Completed is the ones you have finished.
A line under the list such as “2 in progress · 10 not started · 5 completed”. It counts the whole stage, so it shows only while no search, title search or other filter narrows the list.

When To do is empty, the list says “Nothing left for you in this stage.” The tabs and counts show only your own work, never other reviewers’ decisions. The tab you choose is part of the page address, so reloading or sharing the page keeps it. If SyRF can’t show your studies (for example during an update), the list says “Your studies couldn’t be loaded.” with Try again, and shows no studies rather than the wrong ones.

People who manage searches have a Stage button in place of My studies. It lists the same stages, the ones they can review, with All stages first, and choosing one opens the whole stage rather than their own work (or their own work again, if Only mine was on in the stage they left). In a stage the button shows the stage’s name.

People who manage searches see every study in the stage, with Your status in the filter bar. If they can review the stage too, an Only mine button in the filter bar switches to their own tabs, starting at To do; select it again to see the whole stage. While the tabs show, Your status is hidden and set back to all statuses, so it doesn’t come back when you turn Only mine off. If you can’t review the stage, you see the stage’s studies and Your status, with no tabs.

Everyone who opens a stage in the Studies workspace (people who manage searches and people who can’t review the stage included) sees a Your <stage name> column. It always shows your own work on each study, never anyone else’s:

Start or Resume, for a study you can work on now. These appear only in an active stage you can review.
In progress: you have started it, but can’t resume it here (the stage isn’t active, or you can’t review it).
Not started: you haven’t started it, and can’t take it now.
Completed: you have finished it.
Finished: other reviewers finished it without you.
“—”: the study isn’t in this stage for you, because it was excluded at screening. Where the stage hides excluded studies from reviewers, this includes excluded studies you had started or finished.

Next Steps

After viewing your studies, you may want to:

Manage PDFs - Add or update PDF links for your studies
Manage Studies - Make bulk updates or corrections to your uploaded data
Start Screening - Begin the systematic review process with your uploaded studies