CoLRev is an open-source environment for collaborative literature reviews. It integrates with differerent synthesis tools, takes care of the data, and facilitates Git-based collaboration.
To accomplish these goals, CoLRev advances the design of review technology at the intersection of methods, design, cognition, and community building. The following features stand out:
- Supports all literature review steps: problem formulation, search, dedupe, (pre)screen, pdf retrieval and preparation, and synthesis
- An open and extensible environment based on shared data and process standards
- Builds on git and its transparent collaboration model for the entire literature review process
- Offers a self-explanatory, fault-tolerant, and configurable user workflow
- Operates a model for data quality, content curation, and reuse
- Enables typological and methodological pluralism throughout the process
For details, consult the documentation.
You can try a live demonstration of CoLRev via GitHub codespaces: start demo.
The following shows a comparison of CoLRev with related tools.
Note
This is a preview. We plan to document and link the criteria, verify each cell, and invite the developers of the other tools to comment on the overview (documenting responses if the developers agree).
| Criteria | CoLRev | LitStudy | BUHOS | Covidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review types | ||||
| Supports different genres of review methods | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Extensibility | ✅ | ❌ | ||
| Process steps | ||||
| Review objectives and protocol | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Search | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Duplicate handling | ✅ | |||
| (Pre)Screen | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Data extraction | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Data analysis and quality appraisal | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Synthesis and reporting | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Process qualities | ||||
| Extensibility | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Extensions | 111 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Search updates | ✅ | ❌ | ||
| Search: APIs | ✅ (19) | ✅ (7) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Metadata preparation | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Retract checks | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| PDF retrieval | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| PDF preparation | ✅ | ❌ | ||
| Status tracking | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Collaboration | ||||
| Large teams | ✅ | |||
| Algorithms | ✅ | ✅ | ||
| Data management | ||||
| Transparency | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Validation | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Reporting (e.g., PRISMA) | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Publication of review | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Platform | ||||
| OSI-approved license | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Peer-reviewed | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Technology | Python | Python | Ruby | Proprietary |
| Setup | Local or cloud | Local or cloud | Server | Server |
| Interface | CLI, Programmatic (GUI planned) | Jupyter Notebook | Web-UI | Web-UI |
| Contributors |  |
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NA |
| Commits |  |
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NA |
| Last commit |  |
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NA |
| Pull requests |  |
 |
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NA |
| Forks |  |
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NA |
| Last release |  |
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NA |
| Current release |  |
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NA |
Contributions, code and features are always welcome
- See contributing guidelines, help page, and github repository.
- Bug reports or feedback? Please use the issue tracker and let us know.
- To get your work included, fork the repository, implement your changes, and create a pull request.
For further information, see tests, changes, and releases.
This project is distributed under the MIT License the documentation is distributed under the CC-0 license. If you contribute to the project, you agree to share your contribution following these licenses.
Please cite the project as follows:
Wagner, G. and Prester, J. (2026) CoLRev - An open-source environment for Collaborative Literature Reviews. Available at https://github.com/CoLRev-Environment/colrev. doi:10.5281/zenodo.11668338