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Abstract Systematic reviews and systematic maps represent powerful tools to identify, collect, evaluate and summarise primary research pertinent to a specific research question or topic in a highly standardised and reproducible manner. Even though they are seen as the “gold standard” when synthesising primary research, systematic reviews and maps are typically resource-intensive and complex activities. Thus, managing the conduct and reporting of such reviews can become a time consuming and challenging task. This paper introduces the open access online tool CADIMA, which was developed through a collaboration between the Julius Kühn-Institut and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence, in order to increase the efficiency of the evidence synthesis process and facilitate reporting of all activities to maximise methodological rigour. Furthermore, we analyse how CADIMA compares with other available tools by providing a comprehensive summary of existing software designed for the purposes of systematic review management. We show that CADIMA is the only available open access tool that is designed to: (1) assist throughout the systematic review/map process; (2) be suited to reviews broader than medical sciences; (3) allow for offline data extraction; and, (4) support working as a review team.

Abstract The authors wish to update information about the software DistillerSR in Tables 1 and 3 which we were alerted to following the publication of this article. In addition to the analysis provided, DistillerSR does support protocol development (Pi) e.g. assistance to determine appropriate PICO elements, and critical appraisal (Cr) as ‘stages of the SR process supported’. This information was not originally included in the assessment due to a lack of clarity on the service providers’ website. No further updates to this manuscript will be possible for this or other software, in line with the general disclaimer below. General disclaimer: The review of systematic review support software represents an independent assessment by EJ McIntosh based on publicly available information on each software package. This assessment represents an attempt to best capture information located via service providers’ websites, in academic publications, user manuals and via free trials or software demonstrations. Occasionally, relevant information was not publicly available or may have been difficult to access or interpret. This assessment does not represent the views or opinions of any of the software developers or service providers. The review of software was completed in mid-2017, readers should visit the software providers’ websites (linked in Table 1) to check for updates, for further information and to seek clarification where necessary.