Screening

Screen title/abstract and full text

Run two-phase screening, understand blind mode, use reviewer assignments, and know what happens when decisions disagree.

10 min readUpdated June 11, 2026

How screening works

Coventra supports title/abstract screening followed by full-text screening. Reviewers choose include, exclude, or maybe, and can add notes and exclusion reasons when relevant.

Active-learning or ML ranking can prioritize records for review, but it does not make include/exclude decisions. Human reviewers remain responsible for every decision.

Configure screening settings

  1. Open the Screening settings area.
  2. Choose whether blind mode should be enabled.
  3. Set how many reviewers are required when your protocol needs independent decisions.
  4. Decide whether auto-advance and highlighting settings should be enabled for faster review.
  5. Save settings before creating large assignments.

Use assignments

Assignments route records to specific reviewers. They are useful when you have many reviewers, need balanced workloads, or want clear ownership over batches.

  • Assigned work appears in the workspace and screening queues.
  • Assignments can be categorized by phase so title/abstract and full-text work do not blend together.
  • Screening-only members can receive screening work without full access to the rest of the project.

Blind mode

When blind mode is enabled, reviewers cannot see peer decisions, notes, or decision discussions before an include/exclude disagreement opens. Leads and project leads retain access needed for coordination and resolution.

Important

Blind mode protects independence during screening; do not use side channels to reveal another reviewer's decision before the project rules allow it.

Full-text screening

Full-text screening should begin after title/abstract decisions identify records that require full-text assessment. Upload or fetch PDFs where available, then record include/exclude/maybe decisions for the full-text phase.