Rayyan has five review roles: Owner, Review Admin, Collaborator, Reviewer, and Viewer. Each role sets what a member can see and do in a review. Review Admin and Collaborator are paid roles. Reviewer and Viewer are free.
Roles at a glance
Role |
Best for |
Seat required? |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | The person who created the review, with full control over all settings, members, and the review lifecycle | No |
| Review Admin | Team members who manage the review for the owner. They can do everything the owner can, except delete the review, run AI Reviewer, revoke, delete, or change the role of another Review Admin, or manage the membership plan and seats | Yes, paid seat required on Individual plans (see below for Institutional) |
| Collaborator | Core team members who need access beyond screening, including data management, deduplication, and advanced workflows | Yes, paid seat required on Individual plans (see below for Institutional) |
| Reviewer | Team members focused on screening and assessment. They can screen, label, add notes, and participate in Data Extraction and Risk of Bias stages, but cannot manage the review | No, free on all plans |
| Viewer | Supervisors, advisors, or stakeholders who need read-only visibility into the review | No, free on all plans |
What each role can do
This table shows what each role is allowed to do. Using premium features also depends on the review owner's plan (see the next section).
| Permission | Owner | Review Admin | Collaborator | Reviewer | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access review | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Screen references (Include, Exclude, Maybe) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Apply labels and exclusion reasons | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Add user notes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Use Filters Panel (10+ facets) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Run Compute Ratings | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Import and export references | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Upload and attach PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Detect and resolve duplicates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Copy references between reviews | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Access Data Extraction and Risk of Bias | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Generate PRISMA diagram | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Create samples | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Use premium features of the owner's plan (e.g. PICO AI, Advanced Ratings+, ResearchPilot™) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Invite members | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Toggle Blind Mode | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Edit review settings | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Archive or restore the review | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Delete the review | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Run AI Reviewer | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Revoke or delete Collaborators, Reviewers, and Viewers | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Revoke, delete, or change the role of a Review Admin | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Manage the membership plan and seats | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
Premium features for Review Admins and Collaborators
Review Admins and Collaborators can use the premium features of the review owner's plan. Reviewers and Viewers use free features only.
For example, in a review owned by someone on Advanced, a Collaborator can use PICO AI and Advanced Ratings+. In a review owned by someone on Essential, they can't, because Essential doesn't include those features. To see what each plan includes, see Rayyan Plans Overview.
Seats on individual plans
On Essential and Advanced, the review owner buys a seat for each Review Admin or Collaborator. Inviting one takes 2 seats: one for your own access as owner, and one for the member you invite. Both seats must be on the same plan type and billing cycle. Owners on the Free plan need to upgrade first.
Seats always come from the review owner. Having your own subscription doesn't give you a paid role in someone else's review, so if two people want paid roles on each other's reviews, each owner buys their own seats. For details, see Seats & Collaboration.
Roles on institutional plans
Institutional plans (Academic, Business, and Enterprise) use licenses instead of seats. The review owner still chooses each member's role, but no role needs a seat or has a cost.
- Licensed members of your institution can be invited as Review Admins or Collaborators. They use their own license's features and their assigned AI credits.
- External members, outside your institution's license, can also be invited as Review Admins or Collaborators. They get your institution's premium features on the reviews they're invited to. They can open ResearchPilot™, but can't run its AI features, because AI credits are only assigned to licensed members.
- A licensed member invited to a review on an individual plan still needs a seat from that review's owner to be a Review Admin or Collaborator. Their premium features then follow their institutional license.
| Scenario | Viewer / Reviewer | Collaborator or Review Admin |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional review owner → licensed member (same institution) | ✓ Free | ✓ Free, no seat required |
| Institutional review owner → external member (outside institution's license) | ✓ Free | ✓ Allowed, with institutional feature access on invited reviews (no AI credits) |
| Individual review owner → anyone | ✓ Free | Seat purchase required |
For more on licenses and AI credits, see Institutional Plans: How Licenses Work.
Common questions
I have my own Rayyan plan. Why can't I use premium features in someone else's review?
Your access in a review depends on the role the owner gives you there. Paid roles use the owner's seats, not your subscription. Ask the owner to invite you as a Review Admin or Collaborator. If you have an institutional license, your premium features then follow your license.
Why can't my Collaborator use PICO AI or Advanced Ratings+?
These features come from the review owner's plan. They're available when the owner is on Advanced or an institutional plan, or when the Collaborator has an institutional license.
Can a Reviewer use premium features?
No. Reviewer is a free role. To give someone premium features, change their role to Collaborator or Review Admin. On individual plans, this uses one of your seats.
I bought a seat, but I can't invite a new Review Admin or Collaborator
A seat may already be in use, including seats held by members of archived reviews. Go to Administration from your profile icon dropdown to see everyone you've invited and who has paid access. Revoke access to free a seat, or change a member's role to Reviewer or Viewer to keep them in the review without a seat.
Why can't I invite a Review Admin?
Review Admin isn't available on the Free plan or on legacy plans. On Free, upgrade to Essential or Advanced, then buy a seat for each Review Admin you want to invite. On a legacy plan, contact our support team to switch to a current plan.
Why can't a Review Admin delete the review or remove another Review Admin?
Some actions stay with the owner: deleting the review, running AI Reviewer, revoking, deleting, or changing the role of a Review Admin, and managing the plan and seats. A Review Admin can revoke or delete Collaborators, Reviewers, and Viewers.
Who can run AI Reviewer?
Only the review owner. Review Admins and Collaborators can't run it, even on plans that include ResearchPilot™.
Why can't an external member run ResearchPilot™ AI features?
ResearchPilot™ AI features use AI credits, and only licensed members of the institution get credits. External members can open ResearchPilot™ but can't run its AI features.
Continue to: How to Use Blind Mode in Rayyan