Table 3 Summary of the reported advantages and disadvantages of each software package

- Easy to learn how to use

- Straightforward process and simple layout to follow, easy to use

- Does not require downloading (available online), making it versatile/accessible when out of office

- Countdown of screened citations

- Option to highlight key words (regarding reason for including/excluding citation)

- References yet to be screened, automatically move up to the top of the page

- Fairly/very user friendly

- Potential bugs/glitches in software

- Slow to respond once user has made a judgement to include/exclude citation

- No library of categorised articles (unable to view how many articles have been included or excluded)

- User must refresh the library to update the number of citations yet to screen (not automatic)

- User is unable to change their mind regarding including or excluding a previous reference as the references disappear once a decision is made

- Very easy to learn how to use

- Offer keyboard shortcuts with the ability to map buttons onto decisions

- Very fast response time (only limited by the speed of your computer)

- No server delays as it is not dependent on internet connection

- Ability to see libraries of ‘include’, ‘exclude’ or ‘maybe’, automatically populate

- Intuitive layout

- Efficient for screening titles/abstracts

- Fairly user friendly

- Requires downloading and installing

- Bugs/crashing

- May take time to learn how to use keyboard shortcuts and to create folders/map keys onto decisions

- Very easy to learn how to use

- Intuitive interface

- Ability to highlight included keywords in green and excluded in red

- Fairly user friendly

- Ability to tag notes/labels to articles

- Manageable/quick response rate

- Glitches in software causing delays

- Easy to learn how to use and easy to use

- Intuitive layout

- Presents an overall summary of progress (pie graph)

- Live estimations tool aids in guiding responses to subsequent citations

- Entire citation highlights the relevant colour once decision is made (i.e. red for exclude)

- Fairly user-friendly

- Slow/manageable response time

- Lacks ability to input and highlight included/excluded terms, which would quicken screening

- Predictions are not always reliable, especially when few inclusions

- The decision buttons (include/exclude/unsure) are small and too close together