How is PICO Portal Individual different from Covidence?
ComparisonA student without that license cannot start. PICO Portal Individual is the individual path: search, a cited answer, and a decision record, without a department contract.
What does Covidence do that PICO Portal Individual does not?
If your university already pays for Covidence, use it for a dual-review team with a shared protocol.
Covidence runs title screening, full text, extraction, and a PRISMA flow for a review team. Open Covidence.
How do they compare on search, answer, and screen?
| PICO Portal Individual | Covidence | |
|---|---|---|
| Access | 14-day free trial. No department contract. | Usually a university or organization license. |
| Search | 470 million articles from OpenAlex, ORCID and PubMed. | You import the search file. |
| Answer | Plain language. Each claim links to a source you can open. | None. The team writes the review. |
| Screen | Named reviewer, time, rationale, and the source passage. | Dual review, extraction, PRISMA. |
Who should use which?
PICO Portal Individual — One researcher or a student who has to start today.
Covidence — A review team on a university license.
Can I use PICO Portal Individual and Covidence in the same review?
Yes. Keep Covidence for You import the search file. Put the include or exclude in PICO Portal Individual. The record shows the named reviewer, the time, the rationale, and the source passage.
Do I name Covidence in the methods?
Yes, if you searched there. Also name PICO Portal Individual if the decision sits there. A reader must be able to open the same record.
Can a student start without a university license?
Yes. PICO Portal Individual starts with a 14-day free trial and does not need a department contract. Covidence: Usually a university or organization license.
What do I lose if I leave Covidence?
If your university already pays for Covidence, use it for a dual-review team with a shared protocol.
Does either tool write the review?
No. Covidence returns None. The team writes the review. PICO Portal Individual returns a cited answer. You write the sentence.
Where is the decision record?
On the PICO Portal Individual record: named reviewer, timestamp, rationale, source passage. Covidence: Dual review, extraction, PRISMA.
Can I upload a file from Covidence?
Yes, if it is a citation file. You then see that file in the same queue as the OpenAlex results.
Which tool do I open first?
Open Covidence if you already have a list. Open PICO Portal Individual if you have a question and no file.
Is the answer a substitute for the paper?
No. Open the citation. The passage is on the record so a second person can check the claim.
What can a supervisor check?
The question, the search, each include or exclude, and the passage. You see the queue, the conflicts, and the agreement while the stage is still open.