Document AI-assisted screening by recording the tool and version, the screening stage, human oversight, the validation sample, and the adjudication rule in a methods block that reviewers can follow to reproduce eligibility decisions.
What to record
Build the block from the workflow record itself, so each entry traces to a logged event rather than a later recollection. Capture these fields:
- Tool and version: the software name and the exact version or build used, since screening behavior can change between releases.
- Screening stage: whether the tool was applied at title/abstract screening, full-text screening, or both.
- Human oversight: who reviewed the tool's output and at which point in the sequence.
- Validation sample: the set of records screened by both the tool and a human, with the resulting agreement or disagreement counts.
- Adjudication rule: how disagreements were resolved and who made the final eligibility decision.
Write it as a sequence
- State the tool and version, then name the screening stage where it was applied. Result: a reader knows exactly where in the pipeline the tool acted.
- Describe the human oversight step and its position relative to the tool's output. Result: a reader can see whether humans screened before, after, or alongside the tool.
- Report the validation sample and the observed agreement or disagreement counts. Result: a reader can judge how the tool's decisions compared with human decisions on that sample.
- State the adjudication rule and the final decision-maker. Result: a reader can reproduce how each disputed record reached an eligibility outcome.
Align with reporting standards
PRISMA 2020 supplies a reporting checklist, an expanded checklist, and flow diagrams for original and updated systematic reviews; use its checklist to confirm your methods section covers the screening and selection steps. The Cochrane Handbook's chapter on searching and selecting studies describes documenting searches and managing records, which supports recording how records moved from identification to eligibility. For any references you cite in the block, ICMJE recommends verifying them against original sources and identifying retractions.
Keep the block reproducible
Write each field as a concrete statement with the value taken from the record, such as the version string and the number of records in the validation sample. Keep the tool description, the human step, and the adjudication rule in the same paragraph so a reviewer reads the full decision path in one place. Where the workflow record leaves a field unresolved, mark it as unresolved and name the next check needed to fill it.