How to Quick Start a new project

Here you can set up a complete Project in just minutes. This includes building Search Strategies and Knowledge Bases to gather your sources; beginning structured literature reviews as part of creating Evidence Collections and clearly laying out your Project’s structure, ready to create professional outputs. Click ‘Launch Quick Start’ to begin creating your Project in six guided steps.

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Create a new project or choose an existing one. Work your way from the top of the page to the bottom.
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Name & Description - Use a clear title and descriptive project objectives and scope for the description.
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Status & Priority - Using the options in the dropdown menu, select the status (Planning, Active, Completed, Archived) and then the next dropdown for the Priority (High, Medium, Low).
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Dates – Using the calendar, you can set the key dates for the project. To pick a date, click on the calendar icon that is in each section.
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Project ID - It is optional to enter a project ID.
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Tags - Select a pre-existing tag or create a new tag.
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Important – Once each section has been completed, please click the ‘Next’ button, which is at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, if you have decided not to continue with the project, you have the option of clicking the cancel button.
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In this step, you will define then run searches of Science (literature) or Clinical trials.
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Pick a Search Strategy type to begin your search. Choose from Science (which includes the options for searching OpenAlex or PubMed) or Clinical Trials. You can also ‘Skip’ to the next step.
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You can select from an existing Search Strategy or click ‘+ Create new strategy’ to begin a new query in your selected database. When creating a new Search Strategy, begin by filling out the Strategy Name and Description fields. Then work your way through the search parameters, refining your results by entering additional search criteria. Parameters vary by database (see below).

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​Clinical Trials
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For Clinical Trials, you can search existing search strategies and add them to your quick start by ticking the box on the left of each. If you choose OpenAlex or PubMed, the form will be different and that can be seen further down this page.
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Alternatively Click ‘+ Create new strategy’.
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Starting at the top, work your way through the search parameters.
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Strategy Name - Type in your Strategy name (Required).
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Description - Enter optional notes on scope and purpose.
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Condition or Disease - Type in your disease or condition
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Other Terms - Enter a keyword to search for trial studying specific conditions or diseases
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Intervention or Treatment - Search for trials testing specific treatments or interventions
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Sponsor - Search for trials by sponsor organisation
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Location - Search for trials at specific locations
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Advanced Query - Use advanced ClinicalTrials.gov query syntax for complex searches.
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Date Range - Add in From and To dates
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Click Next to complete your search and move on to step 3.

​Science
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OpenAlex - When creating a new OpenAlex Search Strategy, you can enter a Search String which will be used to search OpenAlex. Additional filters can be applied on the records page.
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PubMed - When creating a new PubMed Search Strategy, you can enter a Search Query. This query will be sent to PubMed using the standard E-utilities search syntax. Additional filters can be applied on the records page.
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Organize sources into a Knowledge Base, or click ‘Skip’ to move on to the next step.
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You can use the ‘Create new’ setting to build a new Knowledge Base for your Project by filling out the Basic information fields (these include the Name and Description of your Knowledge Base).
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There is also the option to ‘Use existing’ Knowledge Bases. Search by name to filter the list.

Set up a structured literature review, or click ‘Skip’ to move on to Step 5.

You can select ‘Use existing’ Evidence Collections and search by name to filter the list.
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Alternatively, you can click ‘Create new’ and complete the Basic information fields (Evidence collection name, Description and Review deadline). Then select the Research framework you would like to evaluate your literature by. The options are: Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Targeted Literature Review (TLR) or you can skip this filtering step by selecting the ‘Skip research framework selection (use basic list creation)’ option.
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Systematic Literature Review (SLR) - Selecting SLR allows you to complete a comprehensive, structured review with defined inclusion/exclusion criteria using PICO methodology. Complete the following fields to set your review criteria:
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Population - The specific group of individuals, condition or clinical problem being studied in the SLR (e.g., Adults with advanced neuroendocrine tumours).
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Intervention - The intervention/treatment being studied (e.g., peptide receptor radionuclide therapy).
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Comparison - What the intervention is being compared to (e.g., standard chemotherapy).
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Outcome - What you are trying to measure; describe the outcome measures (e.g., overall survival).
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Inclusion Criteria - Define what studies/records to include.
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Exclusion Criteria - Define what studies/records to exclude.
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Targeted Literature Review (TLR) - Selecting TLR allows you to complete a focused review targeting specific research questions or gaps in knowledge. Complete the following fields to set your review criteria:
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Inclusion Criteria - Define what studies/records to include.

Exclusion Criteria - Define what studies/records to exclude.
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Filters - For OpenAlex and PubMed searches, you can further refine the records pulled from each Search Strategy. Filters will be applied when querying for records before creating the Evidence Collection. Clinical Trials filters are coming soon.
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Assign Reviewers - Pick who will review records in this evidence collection. You are pre-selected as the creator. You can search by name or navigate through the list, using the arrows. You can also alter the workload percentage for each assignee.

Here you can outline the Workstreams, Modules, and Components within your Project. This hierarchy is used to organize your Project into manageable sections. There can be multiple Workstreams in a Project, multiple Modules in a Workstream and multiple Components in a Module. Components are where you create the content of your Project, inserting the references from your linked Knowledge Bases and Evidence Collections (see ‘How to Create Your Referenced Content’ for more detail). Below is an example structure from a previous Project.
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​Example:

The Review before creating step allows you to double-check each section and edit anything you might need to by clicking the ‘Edit’ button.
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Press ‘Create Project’ when you are happy with your Project. Your new Project will now be available to view on your Dashboard.
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