Swipe-Based Literature Screening
Rayyan turns article triage into a focused mobile workflow for researchers working through a systematic review. Open a review, move through titles, abstracts, or full text, and use a left or right swipe to make an inclusion decision without returning to a desktop. Auto-advance can keep the next reference ready after each choice, while a prompt for a reason helps preserve the thinking behind a decision. The same flow suits a short commute session or a longer block of careful screening.
Labels and reasons add structure to quick judgments, so a team can separate likely inclusions, exclusions, and items that need another look. Multiple references can also be selected for bulk actions, making the mobile queue more practical when a review contains many records.
Offline Review Continuity
Rayyan is designed for researchers who need to keep a review moving when a reliable connection is not available. Reviews can be downloaded to the mobile app, allowing screening decisions to continue while traveling, waiting between meetings, or working in another location. The phone remains useful for focused reading instead of turning every short break into time lost to a desktop-only workflow.
When the device reconnects, decisions and annotations synchronize with the web workspace so the review can continue across screens. This continuity is valuable for solo researchers and distributed teams alike: the mobile session handles the immediate task, while the shared project keeps labels, reasons, and notes aligned for later collaboration.
Filters, Labels, and Relevance Signals
Long reference lists are easier to manage when the screening queue can be shaped around the task at hand. Rayyan lets users sort references to prioritize the order in which they appear, filter to a useful subset, and highlight keywords tied to inclusion or exclusion criteria. These controls help a reviewer move from a broad import to a more deliberate group of papers without losing the overall project structure.
Screening preferences can be configured, saved, and switched as a protocol evolves. A five-star relevance ranking workflow can learn from screening decisions, giving researchers another way to focus attention. Together, filters, labels, reasons, and ranking signals turn quick mobile gestures into a repeatable research process.
Team Collaboration and Review Roles
Rayyan supports review work that is shared rather than isolated. Researchers can create review projects, invite teammates, assign Reviewer, Collaborator, or Viewer roles, and monitor progress from a mobile device. Blind Mode can keep individual decisions separate while screening is underway, then be turned off when a team needs to compare choices or resolve a conflict.
The account-based workspace also keeps personal and shared reviews distinct, which helps a researcher switch between an owned project and a team invitation. Because access and mobile limits can depend on the plan or role, Rayyan is best suited to students, clinicians, librarians, and research groups that already have a clear review protocol and need flexible ways to keep decisions organized.
