Tags reflect the qualitative content of underlying studies and provide method for attaching text or images from these studies. After tags have been configured, and so long as at least one study has been included, you can begin applying tags. Once a tag is applied, it is immediately viewable on Qualitative Synthesis.

If you are in Standard Tagging mode, see our instructions on apply standard tags.

Click the “Tagging” button on the left-hand side, in the Nest Menu.

This will enable you to apply tags to records sequentially. If you would prefer to search and find records to tag, or to view records that have already been tagged, use Study Inspector.

Click on the “Full Text” toggle in the upper left to view the full-text PDF.

If no full text has yet been imported, learn how to upload it both individually and in bulk here.

Form-based tagging is designed to show the questions you configured side-by-side with the Full Text for ease of data extraction. By default, the questions are grouped by root tags. If you'd prefer one continuous form, you can toggle this in Settings:

Questions will be available for answer in the right panel (red box); the Question under review has a light blue background, and all Questions should either be answered or marked “Not Relevant”.

All tags can still be added to the study using Standard Tagging by expanding the Tagging panel (red arrow).

By default, questions are grouped by root tag (highest tag in tag hierarchy) allowing you to select specific groups of questions to answer at a time (blue box). This is especially helpful if you have a large tag hierarchy and therefore, a single, long form of questions.

However, if you prefer a single form you can change this in Settings:

The root tags/groups follow a key to indicate completion of the corresponding group of questions. No circle indicates questions are incomplete, a hollow circle indicates partial completion, and a full circle indicates full completion.

By adding Answers, you are applying the underlying tag, with the tag content serving as the evidence that the correct Answer(s) have been added. The method of Answering depends on the type of Question, but for all Question types, the tags applied will populate the Qualitative Synthesis in the same manner as Standard Tagging.

For each Question in the list, complete the following actions based on the type of Question:

• Single Select: Apply one child tag that answers the pre-configured questions. To do so, select one of the tags from the drop-down, and then highlight or select an Excerpt.

• Multi-Select: Any of the child tags can be an answer, so you can apply as many tags from the drop-down as are applicable to the study. When all relevant child tags are added, select “Next” to mark the Question complete.

• Single Apply: The tag under review is either applied to the study (select “Apply”) or marked irrelevant. No child tags are added!

Whenever a Question has no relevant answers, select “Not Relevant” to move to the next Question.

When a Question is finished (Applied or, for Multi-Select, when you select “Next”), or when the Question is marked Not Relevant, the count of completed Questions at the top of the right panel will update.

When all Questions are finished, you can either add tags using the Standard method (by opening the Tagging panel), or you can move to the next study by selecting “Complete” in the upper right-hand corner.

You can search for a specific tag and its associated question anytime using the search bar and dropdown. Clicking on your desired option will take you directly to that question.

Once you begin answering questions, the status of these answers will be displayed next to tags in this same dropdown.

Answer Status Key:

• No Circle = Question is unanswered
• Hollow Circle = Question assigned as “Not Relevant”
• Filled Circle = Question is answered with tag applied

In the below example, Publication Type was deemed not relevant, Number of patients using device was answered with tag applied, Objective (as well as the rest of the questions) were unanswered.

If the study you are tagging has supplemental materials in pdf format, you may also apply tags to these texts. The functionality is the same as tagging full texts: automatic copy of text to clipboard and text box, text highlighting and area selection allowing immediate direction to the excerpt when the tag is selected etc.

Note: Tag Recommendations are currently unavailable for supplemental pdfs.