How to Screen References in Rayyan

Before you begin Make sure you have imported your references and removed duplicates before starting screening. If you are working with a team, invite your members and configure Blind Mode before anyone begins making decisions.

The Rayyan review pipeline

Every review in Rayyan moves through four sequential stages. Articles that pass one stage move forward to the next. You navigate between stages using the tabs at the top of your review.

This article covers Screening — the first and typically largest stage of the process.

Opening the Screening stage

From your review, click the Screening tab in the top navigation. Rayyan loads all your imported references (excluding deleted duplicates) into the screening view.

The layout has three areas:

• Article list (left) — all references in your review. Each reference shows colored decision chips next to the title. With Blind Mode on, you only see your own decisions. With Blind Mode off, all team members’ decisions are visible.
• Article detail (center) — the title, abstract, and publication metadata for the selected reference. The decision bar at the bottom shows your options: Include, Maybe, Exclude, Reason, and Label.
• Filters panel (right) — click Filters in the top bar to open or close it. When open, it shows all available facets including keyword filters, labels, exclusion reasons, decision filters, years, publication types, and more. Active filters narrow your reference list in real time.

To switch between Title & Abstract view and Title only view, open Review Settings using the ··· icon in the top bar.

The Review Settings also contains several controls that assist during screening:

• Active filters bar — when a filter is applied, a bar appears above the reference list showing which filters are active. Click it to hide the active filters display — filters remain applied and continue narrowing your results until you clear them.
• Auto-Scroll — when enabled, Rayyan automatically advances to the next reference after each decision, keeping your screening flow uninterrupted.
• Highlighting — toggles keyword and PICO highlighting across the full article text. When on, terms from your Keywords for Include, Keywords for Exclude, and PICO facets are highlighted directly in the text to help you identify relevant content faster.
• Ratings — once computed, a Ratings indicator appears next to each undecided reference showing Rayyan’s prediction of whether you are likely to include or exclude it. See How to Use Relevance Ranking in Rayyan for details.

Making screening decisions

Select a reference from the article list to open it in the detail pane. Use the decision bar at the bottom — or keyboard shortcuts — to record your decision:

• Include — the reference meets your criteria and moves forward to Full-text screening.
• Maybe — you are unsure. The reference moves to its own Maybe list — separate from both Undecided and decided references. You can filter by Maybe at any time using the Filter by Inclusion dropdown.
• Exclude — the reference does not meet your criteria. Click Reason to attach an exclusion reason — Rayyan provides a pre-defined list to get you started, and you can add your own. Exclusion reasons are documented in your PRISMA flow. For a full guide, see How to Use Labels and Exclusion Reasons in Rayyan.

After making a decision, Rayyan automatically advances to the next reference. Decisions are saved in real time — there is no submit or save step. Decided references linger briefly in your list before disappearing on the next page refresh — this is expected behavior.

Recommended screening workflow

For consistent, reproducible results, follow this sequence:

1. Define your screening criteria before anyone starts. Add inclusion and exclusion criteria using the Screening criteria button in the top right of your review. All team members should screen against the same criteria from the first decision.
2. Turn on Blind Mode before your team begins. With Blind Mode on, reviewers cannot see each other’s decisions while screening. This prevents anchoring bias and produces more reliable conflict data. Only the review owner can toggle Blind Mode.
3. Agree on exclusion reasons in advance. Consistent exclusion reasons across your team make your PRISMA flow accurate and your review reproducible.
4. Work through undecided references first. Use the Undecided option in the Filter by Inclusion dropdown to focus only on references that still need a decision. As you screen, the counter decreases in real time.
5. Resolve all conflicts before advancing. Once your team finishes Screening, turn off Blind Mode and resolve all Include/Exclude conflicts before moving articles to Full-text screening.

Tracking your progress

The Overview tab gives you a live snapshot of screening progress. The Your Progress section shows a breakdown of your decisions (Included, Excluded, Maybe), your total screening time, and how many articles remain. The Screening Summary shows your team’s alignment percentage and the number of unresolved conflicts.

Under Team Progress, you can see each member’s time spent, number of sessions, decisions made, and percentage complete. In the Screening tab itself, your cumulative time and session count appear in the bottom-left corner of the article list. Time and session tracking are available on Essential and higher plans.

Continue to: How to Set Up and Use Screening Criteria in Rayyan