What's New

List of changes made in RevMan and in its updates - latest update is 5.1.6

  • To download the latest updates of RevMan 5.1, go to the Updates page.
  • Click here to see the list of changes for old updates of RevMan 5.0

Changes in 5.1 (22 March 2011)

Text editing

  • Extended text character support, including Arabic and Chinese.
  • Multiple links (to studies, figures, etc.) can be added to the text with fewer clicks.
  • Links can be ordered chronologically or alphabetically when inserted.
  • Tracked changes can be resolved for a selection of text or table cells.
  • Smaller spacing between paragraphs in tables.
  • Insert Symbol dialog shows the decimal code for the selected symbol (allows Alt+code insertion).
  • Yellow text marker applicable to text with tracked changes and/or text that includes links.
  • Sticky marker maintains switch to highlight text - even after moving insertion point.

Review information

  • Support for multiple affiliations per author.  
  • Review number is displayed and, optionally, printed.

Text of Review / Main text

  • Split screen option for the Text of Review tab.
  • User defined headings can be inserted at the same level as recommended (activated) headings.
  • Any text under a subheading is maintained when the subheading is deactivated.
  • Primary reference is shown when hovering the mouse over a study link.
  • Context sensitive Handbook icon for Text of Review tab.

Tables

  • Imported Summary of Findings tables are editable in RevMan.
  • When a Summary of Findings table is created in RevMan, you can choose the outcomes and columns to include.
  • Risk of Bias names and descriptions have been been reworded.
  • Labels for Risk of Bias judgement have changed to High risk, Unclear risk, and Low risk.
  • Order of Risk of Bias items (domains) can be modified.
  • Risk of Bias tables can be copied between reviews.
  • All Risk of Bias items are enabled by default when a new review is created.
  • Additional tables can be added based on clipboard content.

Studies and References

  • On the study edit tab you can see the outcomes for which data have been entered for the study.
  • In addition to the standard pick list for journal titles, you can maintain your own list.
  • References in Vancouver format (journal articles only) can be imported.
  • Import of references to Cochrane Reviews from The Cochrane Library works more smoothly.
  • The number of ignored text lines is displayed when importing references.

Data and analyses

  • Calculator tool facilitates data entry by allowing transformation between effect sizes, confidence intervals, standard errors, Z and P values into data required by RevMan.
  • Test for subgroup differences available for all analyses including Mantel-Haenszel fixed effect and random effects models.
  • Studies can be added to outcomes based on Risk of Bias judgements, year range, or free text search in the Outcomes section of Characteristics of included studies.
  • Quick toolbar buttons for switching between effect measures and random effect/fixed effects models.
  • Labels on forest plots can be changed at the comparison level.
  • More options/properties immediately available when adding a new outcome.
  • More outcomes properties can be exported.

Figures

  • Support for creation and editing of PRISMA flow diagrams.
  • Option for showing four decimals instead of two on forest plot figures.

Review and file management

  • My Reviews screen makes it easier to access the reviews you are involved in and helps decide whether to check out a review or open a local file.
  • When opening a review file that you haven’t checked out, you are prompted if you want to mark the review as checked out.
  • Contact person of review is shown on the Check Out screen.
  • Opening a file from a temporary location (e.g. the directory where your browser stores downloaded files) does not change the default directory.
  • When opening a file, list view vs. details view is maintained from last session.

Validation

  • Link from validation report to relevant edit screen for correcting problem.
  • Error if withdrawn reviews contain other events than Amended.
  • Warning if Plain language summary exceeds 400 words.
  • Warning if links in the text to numbered items, e.g. figures, do not appear in numerical order.
  • Warning if date of What’s new event is in the future.
  • Warning if a link in a protocol refers to a section that is only published for full reviews.
  • Warning if an additional reference shares its identifier with a study.
  • Warning if the DOI for a reference to a Cochrane Review is incorrectly formatted.
  • Warning if an outcome using the generic inverse variance data type has enabled the participants columns but has not used them.
  • Warning if there are more than 6 figures.

Diagnostic test accuracy reviews

  • Default specificity range for SROC plots changed from 0.05–0.95 to 0.7–0.99.
  • Improved symbols for SROC plots with more colours available.
  • Improved legends for SROC plots.
  • Covariate categories can be defined with fewer clicks.
  • Prevalence included in calculator.

Miscellaneous

  • Welcome screen improved and reorganised.
  • Non-Cochrane mode disables features specific to Cochrane use.
  • Wizard buttons renamed to Continue when a follow up action is chosen.
  • Previous/Next buttons on edit tabs for browsing through references, outcomes, etc.

Help

  • Reorganised Help menu, structured by content area.
  • Tutorial for diagnostic test accuracy reviews included.
  • Link to RevMan forum.
  • Link to Handbook for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews updated.
  • Tutorial review available on Mac OS X.

Fixed in update 5.1.1 (31 March 2011)

  • Names are trimmed during importing of references in RevMan format
  • Cannot open PDF documentation from Help menu on Mac OS X and Linux
  • Edit Study Characteristics is only shown as 'Edit'
  • References with IDs containing non-English characters are reported as not being linked
  • Some Vancouver references identified, but not imported
  • References relating to publications on the Internet are incorrectly formatted

Fixed in update 5.1.2 (25 May 2011)

  • Changed validation rules for length of abstract: A warning now appears if Abstract contains more than 700 words and an error is displayed if Abstract contains more than 1000 words
  • Ability to link all types of figures to text in Protocols: It is now possible to link to FlowCharts in protocols
  • Validation report shows NULL for a subgroup if an outcome contains only study data
  • Extra lines appear above the word in the Replace field when closing the Replace window and open it again
  • Error moving study from Awaiting classification to excluded
  • Flow diagrams should work in all review types
  • User information missing when track changes and yellow marker are used together
  • Program error when copying references from one review to another
  • Author affiliation reference numbers are sometimes displayed in the wrong order

Fixed in update 5.1.3 (30 August 2011)

  • Plain language titles should be limited to 150 characters
  • Some references reported as not linked in Validation report
  • Pubmed tags (MH and RN) should be accepted when importing references
  • Calculator values are rounded when updated in the data table
  • Sorting by Study and Subgroup 'acts as Undo function'
  • Update Data Table is greyed out for GIV
  • Log(HR) could not be chosen
  • Notes deleted from study IDs under Tables when reference moved
  • Previous/Next Reference does not not work accross studies
  • Insert Link should be deactived when highlighiting both links and plain text
  • External links can be "broken" after a review has been loaded
  • Unlink not enabled when text selection starts and ends with text and a link is in the middle
  • Internal references can be pasted into the abstract/PLS

Fixed in update 5.1.4 (31 August 2011)

  • This update fixes a problem for overviews of reviews only that was introduced in 5.1.3 where headings in the abstract were duplicated.

Fixed in update 5.1.5 (5 December 2011)

  • DTA review: Heterogeneity analysis uses incorrect labels for Authors' judgement
  • DTA review: Subgroup analysis quality item not persistent
  • Invalid graph scale after changing effect measure
  • Graph scale for Risk Difference should be limited
  • Focus required in Study ID field when opening New Study Wizard
  • Accents should be ignored when sorting studies alphabetically
  • Problem updating heading for user defined study characteristics
  • User defined study order in Outcome is not maintained when copying outcome to another comparison
  • Updated Licence for Publication for UK Government work
  • Feature: Close All Other Tabs

Fixed in update 5.1.6 (12 December 2011)

  • Incorrect forest plot scale limits for continuous outcomes
  • GIV outcomes using Hazard Ratio are not set to use Log scale
  • Error in test for subgroup differences when excluding subgroups (GIV only)