AI tools in evidence synthesis (Searching for Systematic Reviews & Evidence Synthesis)

Readers will be able to judge which stages of a systematic review or other evidence synthesis AI tools can realistically support — developing search strategies, title and abstract screening, data extraction and drafting plain language summaries — and where the cited evidence and position statements from NICE, Cochrane, JBI and Campbell say human oversight cannot be replaced. They can then trial the screening and extraction tools the page describes, such as the free Rayyan, Abstrackr, AIM Review and RobotReviewer, while following its practical cautions on copyright, hallucinated references and institutional AI guidance. The annotated research list also lets them appraise specific tools such as Elicit against published sensitivity and precision findings before adopting them into their own review workflow.

Task

Research & literature

Time

30-45 minutes

Level

intermediate

Cost

Needs a licence — Requires a licence your institution may or may not hold.

Tools

Rayyan, Abstrackr, AIM Review, DistillerSR, ExaCT, RobotReviewer, Elicit, ChatGPT, ASReview

Published

2026-09-24