How to Add and Use Screening Criteria in Rayyan

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria help your team align on what should be included and excluded before screening begins by defining eligibility. The criteria act as your review’s decision framework — ensuring consistency across collaborators and enabling AI-powered screening tools --AI Reviewer and AI Analyzer--to work accurately using the very same criteria.

What Are Screening Criteria?

Screening Criteria are structured rules that define:

• What qualifies a study (inclusion)

• What disqualifies a study (exclusion)

• How decisions should be evaluated across collaborators

• How edge cases should be handled

Think of them as your review’s shared rulebook for determining study eligibility for inclusion.

When defined well and understood properly, the Criteria:

• Reduce decision conflicts

• Improve inter-rater agreement

• Standardize inclusion/exclusion patterns

• Support AI-driven analysis

Where to Add Screening Criteria

You can add Screening Criteria from:

• The Overview page (recommended before screening begins)

• Any other page (Review Data, Screening or Full Text, and Data Extraction)

Criteria can be added or refined at any point during the review.

However, best practice is to define them clearly in the Overview page before collaborative screening starts.

How to Add Screening Criteria

Step 1: Go to Your Review

Open the review where you want to define the eligibility criteria.

Step 2: Access the Overview Page

You will be directed to the Overview page when opening the review.

Step 3: Add Your Criteria

Locate the Screening Criteria section and:

• Add Inclusion Criteria in the Inclusion Criteria tab

• Add Exclusion Criteria in the Exclusion Criteria tab

• Provide clear, structured definitions.

Using precise, objective language will avoid ambiguity.

Examples:

Clear Example: The reference is, or includes, a meta-analysis.

Unclear Example: meta

Best Practices for Writing Screening Criteria

To ensure clarity and alignment:

• Be specific (avoid vague terms like “relevant”)

• Define measurable parameters when possible

• Clarify study types, population, outcomes, timeframe, etc.

• Avoid overlapping inclusion/exclusion rules

• Review and confirm agreement among collaborators before screening

The clearer the criteria, the smoother the screening process.

Why Screening Criteria Matter for AI Features

Rayyan’s ResearchPilot™ capabilities rely on Screening Criteria to function accurately.

These include:

• AI Reviewer

• AI Analyzer

These tools use your defined criteria to:

• Suggest or make screening decisions

• Evaluate articles against your defined rules

• Detect decision patterns

• Analyze alignment across reviewers

• Improve consistency across large datasets

If criteria are unclear or incomplete, both human and AI outputs may be less accurate.

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