Synthesis is a comprehensive research reference management system designed to streamline and enhance the process of conducting literature reviews, particularly in academic, medical, and technical fields. Here is an overview of what the product does and its key features:
What Synthesis Does
Synthesis is tailored to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of literature reviews by automating many manual processes and enhancing the workflow. It is essential for researchers, medical professionals, and decision-makers who need to stay updated with the latest research information in a timely and summarized manner.
Key Features and Functionality
Advanced Search Capabilities
Synthesis allows users to search multiple bibliographical databases, including PubMed, PubMed Central, IEEE, arXiv.org, and US Patents, directly from within the application. It also supports importing references from various databases such as Ovid, Web of Knowledge, ProQuest, and more.
De-Duplication
The system automatically de-duplicates references as they are imported, ensuring a high level of accuracy with an external validated sensitivity of 98% and specificity of 99%.
Topic Clustering and Word Clouds
Synthesis uses artificial intelligence to cluster references into topics, providing an unbiased view of the topic groupings in the literature. Additionally, it generates word clouds to visually represent the most frequent words in the titles and abstracts of the references.
Charting and Summarization
Users can quickly produce various types of charts (line, bar, pie, stacked bar, or stacked area) to summarize column information and understand trends and frequencies. This feature also allows for chart manipulation and customization.
Integrated PDF Viewer and Grey Literature Management
The application includes an integrated PDF viewer, and users can manually enter references that are not in bibliographical databases into the Grey Literature component. It also extracts and summarizes key information from PDFs, such as comments and underlined text.
Automation and Tagging
Synthesis automates the tagging of references based on specific keywords and phrases, including study types, author country, population, and custom definitions. This autotagging feature enhances the searchability and organization of references.
Data Export and Bibliography Generation
Users can export data as CSV files for secondary analysis and generate bibliographies in various formats, including BibTex, with differing levels of content such as references plus reviewers’ comments.
User-Friendly Interface
The application features a spreadsheet-like interface that allows for the creation of columns and direct data collection within the application. This design facilitates efficient data management and analysis.
In summary, Synthesis is a powerful tool that simplifies the process of managing and analyzing large bodies of literature, making it an indispensable resource for anyone involved in research, medical decision-making, or staying updated with the latest industry and academic information.
