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HomeHomeEPPI-Reviewer 4...EPPI-Reviewer 4...Forum announcem...Forum announcem...Latest Changes (19/01/2020 - V 4.11.1.0)Latest Changes (19/01/2020 - V 4.11.1.0)
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19/01/2020 11:48
 

Version 4.11.1.0 is a release that mostly contains features for EPPI-Reviewer Web. We implemented a range of functionalities, picked amongst the "most eagerly requested" ones*. The notable ones are: added new and improved Export options; added content for the Online Help feature to most pages and tabs; added the ability to run configurable reports (they still need to be "designed" in EPPI-Reviewer 4); added basic deduplication functionalities; added full support (including editing) for term highlights. Both EPPI-Reviewer versions have acquired a new "search" function. This release also includes significant behind-the-scenes changes which we made in order to allow the (future) implementation of features powered by Microsoft Academic Graph (more info Here).

New Features (EPPI-Reviewer Web)

Exporting Reference data
Besides the already implemented "Export to RIS" function, EPPI-Reviewer Web can now export the currently visible table of references (main screen, References tab) into multiple formats, including "Harvard" and "Chicago" styles, as well as directly to Excel and to an HTML table.

Running Configurable Reports
Configurable Reports are an extremely versatile and powerful way to export your review results. Designing, configuring and testing them can take users some time, but we believe it is time well spent. While the "design" activity still needs to be carried out in EPPI-Reviewer 4, it is now possible to run configurable reports from EPPI-Reviewer Web. When implementing this feature, we also redesigned the way in which various options are presented, hoping to make the distinction between various reports types clearer.

Basic Deduplication Functionalities
In EPPI-Reviewer web, it is now possible to perform all of the basic activities required to identify and sideline duplicate references. The functions supported are: Get new duplicates (finds possible duplicates); Mark as Duplicate / Not a Duplicate; Change "Master" for a Group of Duplicates; "Mark automatically" and "Advanced mark automatically (allows you to change thresholds)".
This implementation includes a completely new user interface, which we believe allows to manually check duplicate groups in a much faster and comfortable way.
We are also developing a new "find and group duplicates" algorithm, which we expect to out-perform the current one on all important metrics (accuracy, reliability, speed and usability). The side effect is that we have solid reasons to believe that a range of "advanced" functionalities implemented in EPPI-Reviewer 4 will become obsolete and unnecessary.

Term Highlights
This functionality can be extremely useful during screening. It is now possible to edit the list of highlighted terms from within EPPI-Reviewer Web (before, you could use the list, but not edit it). EPPI-Reviewer Web now also includes four different highlighting styles and will remember your preference (on a per-browser-instance basis).

Error Handling
Much as we'd like EPPI-Reviewer Web to always run smoothly and never generate any error, this is, alas, nothing more than our aspiration. When errors happen, they are shown to users, and in some cases, to prevent data-corruption, users are also sent back to the login page. Given the unpredictable nature of unexpected errors, it is not always possible to show meaningful (and/or comprehensible) error messages. In this release we have made some changes to the "error handling" functionalities, designed to improve the overall quality of the error messages shown by the app. In turn, this will allow us to find out and eliminate the root causes of problems in a more efficient way.

New Search option (both versions)
When searching for "(references) that have at least one code from this set", it is now possible to also specify who should be the owner of the coding in question.

Performance enhancement
In EPPI-Reviewer 4, loading the "Edit/Run Meta Analysis" window could be slow and, in some cases, would fail to complete in time, generating a timeout error. We have re-written the data-access query that was causing this problem, making it much faster in all cases and ensuring the timeouts should not reoccur in the foreseeable future.

Online Help
Due to the fast (for us) development pace, it has been difficult to ensure that EPPI-Reviewer Web features were described within the "in app" help system. This release reaches the point where we expect that many currently implemented functionalities are now tried and tested sufficiently, meaning that we do not expect to change them significantly in the short term. This allowed us to concentrate more efforts on the help content, which now covers the majority of EPPI-Reviewer Web functionalities. The the help content for "Coding UI" interface is still incomplete, we hope that users can refer back to the relevant help in the full version, for the time being.

Bug fixes

In EPPI-Reviewer Web, the "view" comparison  panel (Collaborate tab) had a problem when showing a 3-way screening comparison in the "Include/Exclude Only" tab. The Complete buttons for some combinations of users wouldn't work or would otherwise fail to work correctly. The problem could generate surprising results as it was possible (with some effort) to force the system into "completing" unintended sets of "agreements". This issue is now resolved and as far as we can tell, has not had adverse effects in the real world. Please feel free to get in touch if you think you might have been affected.

In EPPI-Reviewer 4 a new bug was preventing users from deleting old unwanted searches. This problem is now resolved.

In both versions, asking for an "Outcomes" report to run and include the "Old Item Id" data could, depending on the underlying data, fail and produce an error message. This problem had gone undetected for quite some time, but is now resolved.

Future Plans

Our ambitions to release new and exciting automation features are not fading, please see here for more details. The current release includes (still invisible) architectural changes that might allows us to make significant progress in the short term, please check this space. As for EPPI-Reviewer Web, we expect the next release to include full support for creating and editing configurable reports and perhaps also the ability to configure priority screening.


*A note on the "Feedback" functionality in EPPI-Reviewer Web: we do read the all the feedback received in this way. However, at this time, we rarely find the time to respond to all of it. Please keep sending it, we can confirm that it is useful and that your comments will always be considered when planning what to implement and how.

 
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