Manage your results with EndNote

If you are working on multiple projects, groups help you keep references separate for each project, avoiding confusion.  Groups can be organised to meet your needs.  The following instructions are for those that use EndNote for various projects.

Custom groups are manually created by users to organise a library. Create a custom group by right-clicking on the My Groups text on the left of the EndNote desktop and selecting Create Group. Once the group has been created, drag-and-drop one or more references into the group from All References (permanent group). Or, in the systematic process, drag-and-drop to the group on import from the Recently Imported.

References in a custom group remain linked back to the All References group (library). If a reference in a custom group is modified the change will be made to the original reference in the All References group. If a reference is deleted from a custom group, it will not be deleted from the All References group. If a reference is deleted from All References, the reference will be deleted from all groups.

If you are writing a review document that does not require collaboration such as a literature review, we suggest screening results in EndNote. When writing a scoping review, or systematic review which are usually completed in collaboration with others, the screening tool Covidence is recommended.   

It is good practice to document your screening decisions regardless. If you are completing a PRISMA diagram, allow the steps to direct you on the screening process. Ensure you document the number of results. 

You can use Groups again, creating folders for inclusion, exclusion and undecided. Don’t forget to revisit your undecided to finalise your decision.

For references that have passed the title and abstract screening, find and attach the PDF to the EndNote citation.  Read the full text and screen according to your inclusion/exclusion criteria. Your inclusion/exclusion criteria may be based on: 

Relevance to your research question 

• Date 
• Population 
• Study design
• Quality e.g. peer-reviewed
• Language

You will end up with a core set of results to synthesise.