Chapter 1 of 8
Overview
Systematic reviews represent one of the highest levels of evidence for a given topic. They are usually led by domain experts—people with deep knowledge of the subject—working together with methodology experts (often information specialists or librarians) who are skilled in the structured steps of designing searches, screening, extraction, and reporting.
AIPRA is a platform where those methodology steps are implemented in software and augmented with artificial intelligence (AI). The goal is to give domain experts a practical path to conduct high-quality systematic reviews while supporting librarians and methods leads with tools that reduce repetitive work and keep the process consistent.
The product is organized as a stepwise workflow: each stage depends on the one before it, so decisions stay aligned from the research question through the final manuscript. As you move through the workflow, AIPRA can assemble different parts of your protocol automatically from what you define in each step.
First step
Research question
Everything starts with a clear, well-scoped question. That framing drives your eligibility criteria, search strategy, outcomes, and synthesis plan.
Protocol development through the workflow
After the question is set, protocol building in AIPRA happens by working through the stages below. You configure each part of the review in turn; the platform ties those choices back into a coherent protocol as you go.
AIPRA workflow: protocol by doing the work
Each step below builds on the previous one. Select a step to see what happens in that stage and jump to the matching e-book chapter.
- 1
- Select which bibliographic databases and other sources to search.
- Construct and refine search queries so they match your protocol and reporting standards.
- AIPRA can help generate and organize protocol-ready search documentation as you work.
- 2
- Build explicit screening criteria aligned with your research question.
- Move from title and abstract review to full-text assessment with a clear audit trail.
- AIPRA supports dual review workflows and conflict resolution when reviewers disagree.
- 3
- Define the fields and coding rules you need for each included article.
- Extract study characteristics, outcomes, and risk-of-bias items in a consistent format.
- AIPRA keeps extraction linked to the article record and your protocol.
- 4
- Decide how results will be tabulated, narratively synthesized, and visualized.
- Align tables and figures with your review’s questions and certainty assessments.
- AIPRA helps you move from raw extraction to a coherent synthesis plan.
- 5
- Draft sections that follow guidelines such as PRISMA and journal requirements.
- Connect methods, results, and interpretations back to each workflow step.
- AIPRA supports exporting and authoring so the write-up reflects what you actually did.
Quantitative synthesis is covered in the Meta-analysis chapter when your review includes pooled estimates.
By the time you have walked through searching, screening, extraction, evidence synthesis, and writing, your protocol and workflow artifacts reflect the same story—what you planned is what you executed and reported.
How the protocol document grows with your workflow
As you complete each stage, AIPRA incorporates the decisions and structured content from that step into the living protocol. The screenshots below illustrate how that document typically evolves as you move through the workflow.
