Managing your reviews

Add a new review

Watch our short video on creating new reviews in Cochrane RevMan Portfolio pages.

Log into RevMan and navigate to the unit in which you wish to add the new review. From the navigation menu on the left, select 'Portfolio'. Click on the 'New review' button in the top right-hand corner of your screen to add a new review. There are three options to choose from:

• Create new review 
• Create review from file 
• Create review using copying key

Good to know:

• Users have different permissions based on their RevMan role, which determines the type of access they have to reviews. See Permissions.
• You may have more than one role in RevMan. Make sure you have selected the correct role to access the correct portfolio. See how to switch between roles.
• Unit Leads can create new reviews if this option has been enabled in the the organization settings. Check with your Organization Administrator. 
• To invite someone to collaborate on a review, see Add an author. If you are an individual subscriber and wish to grant someone access to your new review, you can add them as an author, however, they will also require a RevMan subscription in order to edit the review.

Create a new review

After you have navigated to the unit in which you wish to add a new review, click on the 'New review' button in the top right-hand corner of your Portfolio screen, then select 'Create new review' from the options at the top of the pop-up dialog. 

This option allows to create a blank review with standard RevMan headings.

Enter the title and select the review type. The review type cannot be changed once the review has been created. Read further guidance on review types and the relevant resources.

You can also add a code of your choice as an internal reference within your portfolio of reviews.

Leave the 'Initiate project for this review' option selected, unless you want to start working on this review at a later time. Deselecting this option will make the review read-only until a new project is started. Read how to start a project for a review.

Click 'Add review'.

You will automatically be designated as the corresponding author for this review. You can change this later, along with the author byline. See Add or remove authors. 

Create a new review from an existing template

It is also possible to create a new review based on an existing review that has been designated as an organizational or public template. This option can help authors and improve the consistency and quality of their reporting.

To do this, follow the same steps as for creating a new review. Select the organization providing the template(s) from the dropdown list under 'Organization', then, select the template from the dropdown list under 'Template'.

Please note that:

• If the selected organization has a designated default template for the selected review type, this template will be selected by default. Otherwise, 'No template (empty)' is selected by default. 
• If the organization in which the review is being created has one or more templates (of any type) available, the 'Organization' field will automatically be set to this organization by default.

Change review properties

With the relevant role permissions, you can edit the review title and the review code. You can also notify all authors of the title change. 

To do so, go to your portfolio, find the review, then click on the three-dot context menu to the right of the relevant review to see the options available. 

Select 'Change review properties' to open the pop-up window where you can make the relevant changes.

Create review from file

To create a review from study and analysis data in a file, you should choose the option 'Create review from file'.

Navigate to the unit in which you wish to add a new review. Click on the 'New review' button in the top right-hand corner of your Portfolio screen, then select 'Create review from file' from the options at the top of the pop-up window. 

Select 'Choose file' to upload a data package .zip file or a RevMan 5 .rm5 file as the initial version of the review. Please note that:

• Overview of reviews do not contain any study or analysis data, therefore you cannot create one using this option.
• Article information will not be recreated from RM5 files. 

To complete the creation of the new review, enter a title and select the review type. The review type cannot be changed once the review has been created. Read further guidance on review types and the relevant resources.

You can also add a code of your choice as an internal reference within your portfolio of reviews.

Leave the 'Initiate project for this review' option selected, unless you want to start working on this review at a later time. Deselecting this option will make the review read-only until a new project is started. Read how to start a project for a review. Click 'Add review'.

You will automatically be designated as the corresponding author for this review. You can change this later, along with the author byline. See Add or remove authors. 

Create review using copying key

Organizations and individual subscribers can share a copying key, which allows users outside their portfolio to create a copy of an existing review. This option is useful for sharing pre-publication data in the context of a collaboration, for example. Read further guidance on how to create a copying key.

Users who have received a copying key can create a new review based on an existing one in a different portfolio. To do so, navigate to the unit in which you wish to add a new review. Click on the 'New review' button in the top right-hand corner of your Portfolio screen, then select 'Create review using copying key' from the options at the top of the pop-up window. 

Enter a title and, if you wish, add an optional code as an internal reference within your portfolio of reviews. In the 'Review copying key' field, paste the copying key that you have received.

Leave the 'Initiate project for this review' option selected, unless you want to start working on this review at a later time. Deselecting this option will make the review read-only until a new project is started. Read how to start a project for a review. Click 'Add review'.

You will automatically be designated as the corresponding author for this review. You can change this later, along with the author byline. See Add or remove authors. 

Open a review

Log in to RevMan Portfolio. If you have more than one role, select the one you need to navigate to the portfolio containing the review that you want to open. See how to switch between roles and permissions around roles.

Once you are in the relevant Unit, click on the review title to open the review in a new tab. You can also use the Find reviews option in the left-hand navigation menu to quickly search your portfolio for specific reviews. From the search results, open the review in a new tab by clicking on the relevant review title.

Copy a review (for organizational users only)

Organization administrators can copy reviews within and between units of the same organization. Unit leads can also copy reviews within their own unit(s) if this option has been enabled in the the organization settings. Check with your Organization Administrator. 

Go to your portfolio and find the review that you wish to copy. You can use the Find reviews option in the left-hand navigation menu to quickly search your portfolio for specific reviews. From the search results, click on the project status of the relevant review to be redirected to the Portfolio screen of the Unit. 

On the Portfolio screen, click on the three-dot context menu to the right of the relevant review. From the list of options, select 'Copy review'. In the pop-up window, enter the information requested: edit the title, assign an optional reference code, and select the unit to which you want to copy the review. Click 'Copy' to complete the process.

The new review will automatically go to the 'Complete' tab of your portfolio and be read-only. To start working on the new review, go to the 'Complete' tab of your portfolio and click on the three-dot context menu next to the copied review and select 'Initiate new project'.

Move a review (for organizational users only)

Go to your portfolio and find the review that you wish to move. You can use the Find reviews option in the left-hand navigation menu to quickly search your portfolio for specific reviews. From the search results, click on the project status of the relevant review to be redirected to the Portfolio screen of the Unit. 

On the Portfolio screen, click on the three-dot context menu to the right of the relevant review. From the list of options, select 'Move review' and choose the Unit to which you want to move the review. Click 'Move' to complete the process.

Transfer a review (for organizational users only)

Organizational users

If you wish to transfer ownership of a review to a different organization, select 'Transfer' review from the options available in the three-dot context menu of the review in the Portfolio screen. Please check with the person/organization to whom you wish to transfer the review to before taking this action. Please note that if you transfer a review, any project data (e.g. milestones, tasks) will be deleted, as these are not transferable between different organizations. You will no longer be the owner of the review or any of its data, and may lose access to the review if the new owner removes you as an author.

In the pop-up window, enter the recipient's name and email address. Click 'Send request' to confirm and they will receive an email asking them to accept or decline the transfer. You can send a transfer request to any email address; if they do not already have access to an individual or unit's portfolio of reviews, they will be asked to subscribe to RevMan before they can accept the transfer request.

If you have accepted a review transfer request, the review will have no active project associated with it and will be read only. The new review will automatically go to either the 'Not started' tab or the 'Complete' tab of your portfolio, depending on whether the lifecycle assessment option is enabled for your organization,. To start working on the new review, click on the three-dot context menu to the right of the review and select 'Initiate new project'.

Close a review

Closing a review project makes the content read-only. To do this, go to the Portfolio screen of your unit, click on the three-dot context menu of the review and select 'Close project'. The review will move to the 'Complete' tab.

All the data is saved when closing a review project. You can open a new project at any time to start editing the review again.

Users listed as authors on reviews without an active project do not take up seats in the organization.

Delete a review

Organization administrators and individual subscribers can delete reviews from their portfolios. To delete a review, you must close the review project first. Reviews cannot be deleted while there is either an active or pending project. 

Find the review that you wish to delete in the 'Complete' tab of your portfolio, then select the three-dot context menu corresponding to the review. Select 'Delete review' and confirm that you wish to proceed with permanently removing the review from your portfolio. Deleted reviews cannot be restored. 

All active sharing settings relating to the review - such as practice review links, copying keys and templates - will be deactivated once the review has been deleted.