Webinar Recordings

Information Technologies for Systematic Reviews

Presented By: Prof. James Thomas

James Thomas is Professor of Social Research & Policy at the EPPI-Centre, UCL in London and also leads the Systematic Reviews Facility for the Department of Health, England. This webinar will examine some of the ways in which information technologies can make systematic reviewing more efficient and can also increase reliability in the process.

James Thomas  has written extensively on research synthesis, including methods for combining qualitative and quantitative research in reviews, His activities in computer science include implementing novel technologies and processes (including machine learning and crowdsourcing) to improve the efficiency of systematic reviews; and leading development of EPPI-Reviewer, software which manages data through all stages of a systematic review.

As well as covering standard reviewing tasks, such as screening and data extraction, the webinar will focus on methods of synthesis – both qualitative and quantitative. Finally, it will also discuss some of the new technologies that are being adopted in systematic review workflows, covering machine learning for citation screening; machine classifiers for study type (e.g. the Cochrane RCT Classifier); and the new Cochrane ‘Screen4Me’ service, which utilizes existing data, machine learning and crowdsourcing.