How to Perform Title-Abstract Screening in EasySLR

How to Perform Title-Abstract Screening in EasySLR

Title-Abstract Screening is the first screening stage in EasySLR. Reviewers assess article titles and abstracts against the review protocol to determine which articles should proceed to full-text assessment.

Before You Begin

Before starting screening, ensure that:
  • Your citations have been uploaded and deduplication is completed.
  • Your review protocol and inclusion-exclusion reasons are configured.
  • The number of reviews required per article is configured for your workflow.
  • Relevant AI mode is selected.
The Title & Abstract Screening page displays the number of articles pending for review.

To begin screening:
  1. Open your project.
  2. In the left sidebar, go to Review stages.
  3. Select Title-Abstract Screening.
  4. Click Review Articles.
Reviewing an Article
The screening window brings together the article’s publication details, abstract, and screening information, allowing you to review the available evidence and record your decision on one page.
At the top of the screening page, you can view:
  • Journal information
  • DOI
  • Publication type
  • Article title
  • Authors
Click on the DOI to open the publication page when additional information is required. The article title appears below the publication details. Use the Copy option next to the title to copy it quickly when searching for related articles or further information. 

AI-Assisted Screening: When enabled for your project, AI features provide following additional information to support screening.

AI Suggestion: The AI Suggestion provides a recommendation to Include or Exclude the article.

AI Reasons and Notes: Review the AI notes/rationale to understand the supporting reasoning behind the recommendation. 

AI-Generated PICOS: AI-generated PICOS information summarises relevant study characteristics to help you assess the article against your protocol.
AI Smart Tags: To display available Smart Tags during screening, enable the relevant options under Project Settings → AI Copilot. AI Smart Tags automatically classify articles using AI-generated labels.
These tags can help you:
  • Organise articles
  • Filter articles
  • Identify specific types of studies
  • Prioritise articles for review

Accessing the Protocol
Click the Information (i) icon to view your project protocol without leaving the screening page. This allows you to refer to your eligibility criteria while reviewing an article.

Making a Screening Decision
As you review an article, you can access:
  • Inclusion reasons
  • Exclusion reasons
  • Notes
  • Tags
Select the appropriate decision based on your review protocol.

Tags can also be used to categorise and organise articles during screening.

Note: The Number of Reviews Required per Article setting determines how many independent decisions are needed before an article receives a final screening outcome.

Skip an Article for Later
If you need to revisit an article before making a decision:
  1. Click Skip for Later in the screening window.
  2. Return to the Skipped section when you are ready to review it.

Keyboard Shortcuts
EasySLR provides keyboard shortcuts to help speed up the screening process. These shortcuts allow reviewers to make screening decisions more efficiently without relying on the mouse for every action.

 Filtering and Reviewing Articles
Use filters to find specific records, organise your screening workload, and focus on a particular subset of articles. Available filters may vary by project and can include:
  • Search: Find articles using a keyword or phrase in the title, author, journal, or other available article information. For example, search for meta-analysis to locate records containing that term. Review each result to confirm its study type before making a screening decision.
  • Publication Year: Narrow the article list by year of publication.
  • Reviewer: View articles assigned to or assessed by a specific reviewer.
  • Decision Status: Filter articles based on their current screening outcome or status.
  • Ref ID: Find articles using a range of Ref IDs or a list of individual Ref IDs. This is useful when reviewing specific batches of records.
  • AI Decision: Narrow the article list based on available AI recommendations.
  • Smart Tags: Find articles with specific AI-generated classifications.
Always validate AI recommendations and Smart Tags against the article information and your eligibility criteria before making a screening decision.

After applying the required filters, select Review Filtered to review only the articles that match your chosen criteria.

Bulk Actions
For large screening tasks, EasySLR provides Bulk Actions.
To perform a bulk action:
  1. Select the articles using the checkboxes.
  2. Click Actions.
  3. Select the required action.
You can use available bulk actions to process multiple selected articles at once. These may include bulk Include/Exclude actions and rerunning AI on selected articles.


Rerunning AI on Selected Articles
To refresh AI analysis for a selected set:
  1. Select the required articles.
  2. Click Actions.
  3. Select Rerun AI.
AI is rerun only for the selected articles. Review the refreshed output before using it to support screening decisions.

Random Sampling
EasySLR supports Random Sampling for quality control and auditing. You can generate a random subset of articles, run AI on the sample, and review the results to assess its performance. Once you’ve completed the assessment and are satisfied with the AI’s performance, you can run AI on the remaining articles.

Resolving Screening Conflicts
A conflict occurs when reviewers record different screening decisions for the same article.
Review the article against the protocol, compare the available reviewer decisions and supporting information, and resolve the disagreement according to your project’s workflow.

Conflicts You Can Resolve
This view displays conflicts that your role permits you to resolve.
  1. Click Resolve Conflicts to work through the conflict queue.
  2. To focus on a subset, apply filters and click Resolve Filtered.
  3. Review the article, reviewer decisions, reasons, notes, and any Mini Data Extraction responses.
  4. Submit the final resolution.

My Decision Conflict
This view displays unresolved conflicts involving the articles you have reviewed. If your project allows submitted reviews to be updated, you can revise your decision after discussion. Use Update Filtered Reviews to work through a filtered set. If review updates are disabled, a third reviewer resolves the conflicts.

Quality Control

Project Owners can use QC to review articles with a final decision and override the decisions when required. QC is not available for articles that are still in conflict. All decisions overrides, QC are recorded and a report is available to download.


Best Practices
  • Apply the eligibility criteria consistently throughout screening.
  • Complete a pilot screening exercise to identify unclear criteria early.
  • Record clear reasons and useful notes for decisions that may need discussion.
  • Validate AI notes and suggestions.
  • Revisit skipped articles regularly.
  • Review the selected records carefully before applying bulk decisions.
  • Resolve outstanding conflicts before completing the screening stage.

What Happens Next?
Once the required reviews and any pending conflicts are resolved, included articles progress to Full-Text Screening.

Need Help?
Reach out through Live Chat in EasySLR or email cs@easyslr.com.