The Risk of Bias (RoB) summary table for an outcome can now be viewed in data tables and the Forest Plot window and be included in Figures based on forest plots.
A new option under Tools> Preferences: Interface allows turning the RoB Summary on by default. It can be toggled for an individual outcome using the new Risk of Bias button.
Once you have added a figure of the type Forest Plot you can open the figure, edit the properties and select ‘Show Risk of Bias Summary’ to activate this. The Risk of Bias summary will then be located to the right of the forest plot graph.
Bias domains that apply at study level will be shown for all outcomes, but for outcome level domains, this feature will only work correctly if the relevant outcome groups have been specified in detail, e by selecting the outcomes for each group. RevMan 5.3 will adjust for that in two ways:
If only a single outcome group exists for a domain, that will always be shown even if outcomes have not been added to it.
If multiple outcome groups are defined, but the current outcome is not included in any of these, a warning (with guidance) will appear.
If a review with figures that includes the Rob Summary is opened in RevMan 5.2 or earlier, the Rob Summary will not be displayed. If the review is then saved or checked in, those figures will lose the setting, and it must be reapplied using RevMan 5.3.
A Guidance pane to the right of the text can now show all MECIR reporting standards in context. The guidance is dynamically fetched from Archie when the user is online, so it can be updated in real time, but is also cached such that it is available offline. There content can be expanded in the future to include, for example, Training resources, Handbook Chapters, common errors, etc.
This pane is set to view by default when RevMan opens up, and can be closed using the ‘x’ and opened again using the ‘i’ icon, it can also be turned off on start-up by deselecting on the ‘View’ menu.
A new review type; ‘Flexible reviews', can now be edited in RevMan. Use of the flexible review type within Cochrane is still being prototyped, and individual review groups (or authors) cannot currently write and publish these reviews without approval from the Methods Groups. In the Flexible review type only top-level sections and a few second level sections are mandatory. So far Prognosis reviews and Qualitative reviews can use the Flexible review format (more types will be possible in the future, and discussions are being initiated by IKMD to ensure an appropriate procedure to manage new review templates). There are no standard optional headings, and therefore there may need to be some consideration around standardising the format in which ‘add-in’ headings are used by authors to future-proof and attempt to standardise templates as best as possible.
This is a new way to order the display of study information in a review. It groups all information regarding each study under the Study ID in the outline pane: References, Characteristics, Risk of Bias and Analysis results. The default view is also still available.
You can switch to Study Centric View using the toolbar over the tree view, or switch it on permanently under Tools > Preferences: Interface.
Document status indicator - In the lower right hand corner of RevMan, there is now an indicator pane showing when the current review is not checked out or is not the latest version. On the far right hand side of this pane an icon shows which of the Archie servers is currently being used.
Backup button - A button is added next to the ‘Check in’ button on the toolbar. When pressing the Backup button a backup is made of the review on Archie (RevMan checks in the review and checks it back out again). In the History inside Archie these backups will be titled/marked: "[Manual Backup]". The backup function is also accessible via the File menu.
Mark all links using Global Edit - in the past, the Find & Mark Links function was used to search all text, but was imperfect because it would skip any text sections that were collapsed. Now it can be used to mark up selected paragraphs/sections, and Global Edit can be used to search the whole review. The action to mark all links in the review is added inside the "Global Edit" dialog as a checkbox. When using this action RevMan searches all text that can contain a link and marks links found.
Ability to select multiple lines "of same type" - it is now possible to select multiple outcomes of different types in the outline pane. Thus a Continuous outcome can now be selected together with Dichotomous Outcome. It is also possible to select multiple Figures not of same type. To do this Expand the sections required, then either hold the Ctrl key and select items or use a combination of Ctrl+Shift+arrow up/down to select the items. Following this then right-click the selected items and choose the appropriate option from the context menu.
Display validation warning if PLS is missing in DTA reviews - a warning will be displayed if the PLS is missing in DTA reviews. At a later point this will turn into an error as is the case for Intervention reviews.
Convert ligatures when pasting - Multiple problems are connected with having ligatures in reviews. Six common ligatures are now converted into "ff", "fi", "fl", "ffi", "ffl" and "st" when pasted into RevMan. The reason for making this conversion is because it complicates searching in the RevMan text and Wiley has problems rendering them when publishing.
Fixed problem with formatted text in Flowcharts - A bug not allowing to make formatted text in Flowcharts has been fixed.
Link to Comparison disabled - when selecting comparisons in the link menu - the OK button is now disabled. Previously it wasn't and empty links was inserted in the text.
Fixed a problem when copying Figures between reviews - copying figures between reviews didn't work previously. Now all figures are converted into a bitmap (thus not allowing for automatic update) when copied from one review to another - except for Flowcharts which are still possible to edit after being copied to another review.
Insert additional analysis result details in the text - extra information can be added when using Insert Analysis Result.
Link to alternative calculator resources - due to issues in calculating SE from P/t values for MD in continuous outcomes, a link to online resources, including an Excel sheet with alternative calculations has been added.
Improved Split Text of Review - The Split view has been improved with regards to positioning the cursor.
Limit number of levels in lists to 3 - it is no longer possible to have more than 3 levels of indentation.
Removal of License for publication - a dialog has been inserted telling the author to go to Archie.
Limit number of columns to 25 in tables - An error will be displayed if there are more than 25 columns in a table. A warning will be displayed if more than 10 columns are created.
Validation of missing table link is now an error - Wiley does not render Additional tables if they are not linked from the text.
Display dialog when using Find and Mark links menu item - if no selection has been made and the user clicks Find and Mark links a message will display and open the Global Find dialog instead allowing for "global" search in the review.
Renamed Global Replace - Dialog and action renamed to Global Edit.
Menu items relocated - all link-related actions have been moved to the Edit menu.
Reference IDs can now have up to 50 characters - the limit of the reference IDs have been increased from 25 characters to 50 characters.
Updated URLs - The IKMD websites is now tech.cochrane.org (instead of tech.cochrane.org). The new addresses for Archie Test and Training servers are used: test-archie.cochrane.org and training-archie.cochrane.org. The feedback site is now ideas.cochrane.org.
Secure connection to Archie - The default is now for RevMan to use SSL encryption when communicating with Archie.
Remove Link in context menu - the Remove links action is now always present in the context menu (right click menu) if a link is inside the selection made.
Filter out Surrogate characters - Surrogate characters are special characters that could otherwise corrupt a review if pasted in. They are now converted into "???" when pasting into RevMan.
Changed validation text when empty Summary title - When PLS title is empty the validation warning is changed to "Empty title" instead of "Empty text".
No search in RevMan Help - The option to search in the help file is now available again.
See also What's new in previous versions.