Screen the shared practice set
Preserve the original CSV, identify duplicate copies, screen independently, then compare disagreements and record one supported reason for each exclusion.
Stage 2 / Hands-on Guide
STAGE 2 · FROM PROTOCOL TO EVIDENCE
Stage 2 Hands-on Guide
Follow the sequence to practise screening, quality assessment, data extraction and PRISMA reporting. Start with the workshop exercise, then repeat the workflow using records from your own review.
Bring your Stage 1 protocol. Use its eligibility criteria, screening rules, quality-assessment plan and extraction fields. Record any change as a protocol amendment before applying it.
Use each material for its intended task. The synthetic records teach screening decisions; the published review articles teach evidence tracking and reporting.
Open practice pack
Study how published reviews report evidence
Use the five review PDFs plus the Li et al. (2024) IoT security case to locate selection counts, appraisal methods, extraction fields and synthesis details. Download its supplementary archive to inspect the extraction workbook and study records.
Build and inspect a PRISMA example
Open the builder and start with the Smart villages example, whose reported counts reconcile. Compare other tabs to practise spotting reporting discrepancies.
Keep the sets separate. The five published review articles are examples for learning how to report a review. Do not combine their counts or add their included papers to the synthetic screening set.
Workshop evidence to keep: independent screening decisions, reconciled decision log, full-text exclusion reasons, evidence notes from the Article Evidence Lab, and a PRISMA diagram generated from one verified count set.
Apply the same sequence to your own review. Every number in the PRISMA diagram should be traceable to a search export or decision log.
Confirm your protocol and search records
Check that the current criteria and search strategy are versioned. Keep the original database exports and record each database’s result count and search date.
Deduplicate and screen titles and abstracts
Keep a duplicate log, screen against the written criteria, mark uncertain records for full-text checking, and resolve reviewer disagreements transparently.
Retrieve and assess full texts
Record reports that could not be retrieved. For every full-text exclusion, assign a clear primary reason from your protocol.
Complete quality assessment and data extraction
Apply the planned appraisal criteria to eligible studies. Extract the fields in your protocol and attach evidence locations for key findings.
Reconcile counts and create your PRISMA diagram
Enter counts from this review only. Save the diagram and a CSV/JSON backup. Use the official template if your review includes records from other methods.
The builder formats counts; it does not make screening or quality decisions. If quality assessment determines final eligibility, document that rule in the protocol and reflect the exclusions transparently.
Stage 2 handoff: versioned protocol and amendments, search log and untouched exports, deduplication/screening log, full-text exclusion list, completed quality assessments, data-extraction table, and final PRISMA diagram.