LitMap vs RevMan

LitMap is a web tool for analyzing papers and organizing a literature review. Users upload PDFs, and the service extracts claims, methods, and findings. AI extraction can also identify definitions and limitations, with editable results. Papers are clustered by semantic similarity on a visual canvas that users can rearrange. LitMap highlights disagreements with side-by-side quotations and lets users mark them resolved or unresolved. Its gap finder identifies missing populations, methods, or timeframes. Users can arrange papers and themes into an outline, then export organized notes with citations as Markdown, CSV, or JSON. LitMap does not write literature-review prose or paraphrase sources. The site says it works offline, keeps data in the browser, and requires no account. It is labeled beta. The Free plan costs nothing and allows five projects with 50 papers per project; Student costs €5 a month, and Academic costs €25 a month.

RevMan is Cochrane’s software for building systematic reviews, from structured data entry and analysis to presenting results. It supports diagnostic test accuracy, intervention, methodology, overview, prognosis, qualitative, and flexible review types. Authors can edit separate parts of a review at the same time and see who else is working on it. Analysis options include pairwise meta-analyses, sensitivity and subgroup analyses, and fixed-effects, random-effects, Mantel-Haenszel, and inverse-variance models. Built-in outputs include forest, SROC, and funnel plots, risk-of-bias assessments, and PRISMA flow diagrams. Authors can work from ready-made or custom templates and structured headings with Cochrane methodological guidance. RevMan imports study data and references from Covidence, and RIS reference imports can draw on Crossref, PubMed, or CRS. A free practice review is deleted after 30 days and permits one person, with no data export. Free access is also available to authors working on Cochrane Reviews. Individual annual plans are £80 a year for eligible students, £100 a year for eligible academics, and £130 a year for standard subscriptions; VAT applies in the EU and UK.