ASReview vs Synthesis

ASReview is a free, open-source tool that uses AI-aided active learning to prioritize records for systematic review screening, with a human making screening decisions. Its site says the approach can reduce screening workload by up to 95%. Users can simulate AI-aided review to compare models, while Crowdscreen supports parallel screening with access managed by administrators through a private login system. The described model families are ELAS-Ultra, ELAS-Heavy, and language-agnostic ELAS-L; ELAS-Heavy and ELAS-L require the Dory package. ASReview works with reference managers including EndNote and PubMed, and imports and exports CSV, RIS, and XLSX files. Documentation includes a Python API, while the institutional workflow also describes a REST API and CLI for automation. In a local setup, data stays on the user's computer; server deployments keep it in the organization's environment and follow its policies. Support includes documentation, tutorials, videos, community discussion, and organizational workshops and consultancy. ASReview LAB costs nothing with no licensing fees or subscriptions, though running hardware or a server may incur costs.

Synthesis is software for conducting scoping, systematic and regular literature reviews. It organizes references and PDFs, searches abstracts and full-text PDFs by keyword or phrase, and automatically de-duplicates imported references. The support page reports externally validated deduplication sensitivity of 98% and specificity of 99%. Its screening workflow supports primary and secondary reviewers working through abstracts and full text, with kappa scores calculated for both. Analysis tools include AI-assisted topic clustering, word clouds, metadata extraction and charts. Embedded searches cover PubMed, PubMed Central, IEEE, arXiv.org and US Patents; references can also be imported from Ovid, Web of Knowledge, ProQuest and ACM. Synthesis can download many full-text PDFs when open or institutional access is available, and exports references and data as RIS and CSV. The trial allows unlimited projects, but each project can import only 50 references and uses a slower PDF viewer. The maker says orders and downloads are temporarily suspended during development of a new release. Licenses are tied to individual computers; pricing is available on request.