Manual Screening
What is manual screening?
Manual screening lets you review every paper yourself without AI assistance. This is the traditional approach to systematic review screening.
When to use it
- When you want full control over every decision
- For smaller projects where AI screening isn't needed
- As a training exercise to build familiarity with your criteria
- When your review methodology requires human-only screening
How it works
1. Set your criteria in the Criteria stage
2. Choose Manual as your screening mode
3. Each paper is presented one at a time in Focus View
4. Read the title and abstract, then click Include, Exclude, or Maybe
5. Optionally add a note explaining your decision
Features
- Keyboard shortcuts for fast reviewing (I/E/M for decisions, arrow keys for navigation)
- PICO highlighting to help you spot relevant terms
- Progress tracking showing how many papers you've reviewed
- You can pause and resume at any time
Free forever
Manual screening is completely free with no limits on the number of abstracts. You only pay when using AI-assisted screening.