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Data Export and PRISMA

SyRF provides comprehensive data export and automatic PRISMA 2020 flow diagram generation. Everything your team has built throughout the review -- imported citations, deduplication decisions, screening outcomes, annotations, and reconciliation records -- is available for export and visualisation.

Enhanced Data Export

Navigate to Project > Data Export. You see the available export types and configuration options.

Export Types

SyRF offers several export formats, each tailored to a specific use case:

Export Type What It Contains Format
Annotation data All annotation answers, question versions, reconciliation status CSV
Screening data Screening decisions with structured exclusion reasons CSV
Bibliographic data Study metadata, import sources, deduplication history CSV
Agreement metrics Per-question and per-study agreement statistics CSV
Deduplication report Import record counts, duplicate group membership, resolution decisions CSV
PRISMA data All 34 PRISMA fields with computed counts JSON or CSV

What is New in This Release

Data exports now include information from all three releases of the platform evolution:

From Release 1 (Question Management): - Question version references: Which question version each annotation was collected against. This lets you track whether answers were given to v1 or v2 of a question, ensuring data integrity when questions change. - Question set version: Which set of questions was active when the annotation was created.

From Release 2 (Reconciliation): - Reconciliation status: Whether each question per study has been reconciled, and how it was resolved (auto-promoted, candidate agreement, or manual reconciliation). - Agreement metrics: Percent Agreement and Cohen's Kappa per question and per study. These statistics are ready for publication.

From Release 3 (Screening and Deduplication): - Screening decisions with reasons: Structured exclusion reasons with primary and sub-reasons, linked to screening profiles. - Deduplication reports: Import record counts, duplicate group membership, canonical enrichment provenance -- which import source provided each field of the canonical study.

Downloading an Export

  1. Select the export type you want.
  2. Configure any filters (e.g., specific stages, date ranges).
  3. Click Download.
  4. The export runs in the background. You receive a notification when it is ready.
  5. Download the file. The filename includes the export type, date, project ID, and blinding level.

For large projects, exports may take several minutes. You can navigate away from the page and return later.

PRISMA 2020 Flow Diagram

The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram is a standardised visual summary of the entire systematic review process. Journals require it. Funding bodies expect it. Producing it manually is tedious and error-prone. SyRF generates it automatically from your project data.

Navigate to Project > PRISMA Report. The system displays the PRISMA 2020 flow diagram, populated with your project's actual numbers.

Understanding the Diagram

The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram follows a standard three-section structure:

Identification

The top section shows where your studies came from:

  • Records identified from databases and registers: The total number of citations imported from sources like PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and clinical trial registries. Each source is listed with its count.
  • Records identified from other sources: Citations from websites, organisations contacted, citation searching, and other methods.
  • Duplicates removed: How many duplicate citations were identified and removed (see Deduplication). This is broken down into:
  • Duplicates removed by automation (high-confidence matches)
  • Duplicates removed by other means (administrator review)

Screening

The middle section shows how studies were filtered:

  • Records screened: The number of unique studies that entered screening after deduplication.
  • Records excluded: Studies excluded during title/abstract screening, with counts.
  • Reports sought for retrieval: Studies that passed initial screening and were sought for full-text review.
  • Reports not retrieved: Full-text reports that could not be obtained.
  • Reports assessed for eligibility: Studies that underwent full-text screening.
  • Reports excluded with reasons: Studies excluded during full-text screening, broken down by exclusion reason (e.g., "Wrong population: 45, Wrong intervention: 23, Wrong study design: 12"). These counts come directly from your Screening Annotations.

Included

The bottom section shows the final results:

  • New studies included in review: The number of studies that passed all screening stages.
  • Studies included in meta-analysis: The subset of included studies that were used in quantitative synthesis.

Each box in the diagram shows the actual count from your project data. The numbers update as your review progresses.

Dual-Column Layout

The PRISMA 2020 diagram uses a dual-column layout that separates identification sources:

  • Left column: Databases and registers (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, CENTRAL, etc.)
  • Right column: Other sources (websites, organisations, citation searching)

SyRF assigns each source to the correct column automatically based on the source type of your systematic searches. The source types are:

Source Type Column Examples
Database Left PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science
Register Left ClinicalTrials.gov, CENTRAL, WHO ICTRP
Website Right Organisation websites, grey literature sources
Organisation Right Direct contact with researchers or institutions
Citation Searching Right Forward/backward citation chasing
Other Right Any other method

How the Numbers Are Computed

Every number in the PRISMA diagram is computed automatically from your project data:

PRISMA Box Data Source
Records identified Count of ImportRecords grouped by source type
Duplicates removed Count of studies with Duplicate or Merged lifecycle status
Records screened Count of active studies after deduplication
Records excluded Count of studies excluded in title/abstract screening
Reports excluded with reasons Structured exclusion reasons from screening annotations
Studies included Count of studies with Included lifecycle status
Studies in meta-analysis Count of studies with the meta-analysis inclusion flag set

You do not need to compute these numbers manually. The system derives them from the data you have already entered during your review.

Exporting PRISMA Data

Interactive Web View

The PRISMA diagram rendered in SyRF is interactive. Click on any box to drill down to the underlying studies. For example, clicking "Records excluded (n = 68)" shows you the list of 68 excluded studies with their exclusion reasons.

Structured Data Export

Click Export PRISMA Data to download the underlying numbers in a structured format:

  • JSON: Machine-readable format with all 34 PRISMA fields
  • CSV: Spreadsheet-friendly format with one row per PRISMA field

Compatibility with PRISMA Tools

The exported data is compatible with the community PRISMA2020 R package, which produces publication-quality flow diagrams. If your journal requires a specific diagram format, export the data from SyRF and feed it into the R package.

Data Migration Notes

When this release is deployed, existing project data is migrated automatically:

  • Existing screening decisions are converted to the new structured format, with screeningOutcomes[] entries created on each study.
  • Study lifecycle statuses are backfilled. All existing studies receive an "Active" status by default. Studies that were previously excluded are set to the appropriate status based on their screening history.
  • Source type metadata is populated where determinable. Citations imported from PubMed XML files are automatically tagged as "Database" source type. Other source types may need manual classification by the project administrator.
  • Stage settings are migrated from the legacy configuration format to the new unified settings schema.

All changes are additive. No existing data is deleted. If any issues arise, the changes can be safely reversed.