One of our goals for this year was to create a user conference for DistillerSR users to come together, learn from the community, and network. Of course, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those plans had to change. Instead, we decided to take our user conference idea online and create our first ever...

In general, a systematic review describes the rigorous process of systematically collecting, synthesizing, and reporting data to answer a well-defined research question. One of the first times we saw something resembling a “systematic review” in history was in 1753 when James Lind reported on...

Medical device manufacturers working towards EU MDR compliance are running out of time. Although the EU MDR deadline will be pushed back to 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still much work to be done for manufacturers hoping to show their devices meet the new compliance standards. 

The field of public health is absolutely critical to the sustained health and wellness of the general population. Numerous aspects of our daily lives are impacted by public health, such as nutrition, healthcare, community planning, sanitation, lawmaking, and more. Today, more than ever, the...

Healthcare decision makers have the difficult task of making the choices that define our healthcare policies and practices. These decisions are never taken lightly and choices should always be backed by copious evidence. An economic evaluation (EE) is commonly used in healthcare...

The audit trail: a digital trail of cookie crumbs that effectively illustrates the path taken to get to where you currently are. In a literature review, an audit trail is a relatively new concept in the grand scheme of things. Older literature review methods, like using a pen and paper or even a...

Artificial intelligence in systematic reviews is undoubtedly the way of the future. With an overwhelming amount of data powering today's evidence-based research, it's becoming more difficult for researchers to keep up with the amount of manual work required to manage and maintain systematic...

The demand for evidence-based research is reaching a tipping point. Across almost all industries, the need for clear and concise evidence is starting to overwhelm the researchers whose job it is to find it. Systematic reviews (SRs) are still widely considered to be the best way to collect,...

*This post was updated in April 2020 to reflect the postponement of the EU MDR deadline.

The EU MDR deadline has been extended to May 26, 2021, but you’ve probably been working overtime to make sure your medical device meets the new compliance standards. But what happens if you don’t meet the...

For some, the hesitation to trust artificial intelligence (AI) in systematic reviews comes from not fully understanding the technology that powers it. For example, when we say DistillerSR uses “natural language processing,” what does that really mean in practical terms? In this post, we’re...