University of Ottawa Library now has an institutional subscription to Covidence, a web-based software platform that streamlines the production of systematic reviews. It should be noted that, while Covidence specifically mentions systematic reviews, it has also been used for comprehensive literature reviews, scoping reviews, meta-syntheses, meta-narratives, and other types of literature reviews. It can also be used for any discipline including health sciences, medicine, social sciences, environmental sciences, biology, management, education, and so forth.
What is Covidence?
Covidence is a web-based software platform that streamlines the production of systematic reviews. It supports citation screening, full-text review, risk of bias assessment, extraction of study characteristics and outcomes, and the export of data and references.
Who can use Covidence? Why would I want to use it?
Anyone with a University of Ottawa email account can have an institutional account to Covidence. It should be noted that, while Covidence specifically mentions systematic reviews, it has also been used for comprehensive literature reviews, scoping reviews, meta-syntheses, meta-narratives, and other types of literature reviews.
How can I get an institutional account with Covidence?
University of Ottawa affiliated users can sign up for the institutional subscription by following this link, logging in with your University of Ottawa email (example: john.smith@uottawa.ca).
How do I set up a new review with an unlimited account?
Once you have set up your University of Ottawa account, you will see the option to use the organizational access to create a new review. There are step-by-step instructions on creating new reviews and using the Covidence through University of Ottawa's institutional subscription on the University of Ottawa page in the Covidence Knowledge Base. More information on Covidence can be found on their general knowledge base page.
What if I already have a review currently using Covidence?
Reviews linked to existing University of Ottawa members (who have accounts using their uottawa.ca email) will automatically be migrated to the institutional full access subscription in the near future. There will be no loss of data or access. In fact, users with trial accounts will gain access to the functions of the full version of Covidence, including the ability to invite unlimited reviewers and bulk imports of PDFs. The migration hasn't begun yet, but will be done on the back end by Covidence, to ensure a seamless transition. This will occur after consultation with existing University of Ottawa account users.
What if I used a different email (gmail, etc.) to sign up with Covidence? Can these reviews still use the institutional license?
All University of Ottawa affiliated individuals are covered with this license. If you have a review that is linked to a email that is not uottawa.ca, contact covidence@uottawa.ca. An invitation will be send for institutional access.
All new accounts with Covidence should be set up using your uottawa.ca email.
I am starting a review with colleagues from other institutions. Can we use the University of Ottawa institutional account for this inter-organizational review?
Yes, any University of Ottawa user connected with a University of Ottawa institutional account may create new reviews and invite unlimited reviewers from anywhere in the world. However, due to copyright laws and licensing restrictions, there are restrictions on sharing full-text articles with individuals who are not associated with the University of Ottawa. Please contact covidence@uottawa.ca, if you have any questions.
NOTE: University of Ottawa reviewers are cautioned to NOT upload the full-text of articles obtained through the University of Ottawa Library subscriptions or document delivery to Covidence due to licensing and copyright restrictions. Full text of publicly available articles may be uploaded. Please contact the Copyright Office at (ddac@uottawa.ca) with any questions regarding sharing licensed intellectual property.
For more information, please contact: covidence@uottawa.ca
Request a Covidence workshop for your team! Filll out the form here.
Scheduled workshops to come. Stay tuned!