
SWIFT-Active Screener is a web-based, collaborative systematic review software application. Active Screener was designed to be easy-to-use, incorporating a simple, but powerful, graphical user interface with rich project status updates. What makes Active Screener special, however, is its behind-the-scenes application of state-of-the-art statistical models designed to save screeners time and effort by automatically prioritizing articles as they are reviewed, using user feedback to push the most relevant articles to the top of the list.

How Active Screener Works for You
As screening proceeds, reviewers include or exclude articles while an underlying statistical model automatically computes which of the remaining unscreened documents are most likely to be relevant. This “Active Learning” model is continuously updated during screening, improving its performance with each article reviewed. Meanwhile, a separate statistical model estimates the number of relevant articles remaining in the unscreened document list. Together, the combination of the two models allows users to screen relevant documents sooner and provides them with accurate feedback about their progress. Using this approach, the vast majority of relevant articles can often be discovered after reviewing only a fraction of the total number of articles. This can result in a significant time and cost savings for you and your team, especially for large projects.
For more information about SWIFT-Active Screener and other Sciome products and services, please contact us at swift-activescreener@sciome.com.
Data Integration
Active Screener integrates with all of the systematic review tools that you already use. It accepts imports from many of the most popular bibliographic databases and reference curation platforms including EndNote, Mendeley, Zotaro, PubMed, and SWIFT-Review. Results from screening activities in Active Screener can also be exported in standard data formats compatible with a wide range of applications including EndNote, Mendeley, Zotaro, PubMed, HAWC and Excel.
Publications and Presentations
- Howard BE, Phillips J, Tandon A, Maharana A, Elmore R, Mav D, Sedykh A, Thayer K, Merrick A, Walker V, Rooney, A, Shah RR (2020). “SWIFT-Active Screener: accelerated document screening through Active Learning and integrated recall estimation.”Environment International 138 May 2020, 105623. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105623.
- Lam J, Howard B, Thayer, K. Shah R (2019). Low-Calorie Sweeteners and Health Outcomes: A Demonstration of rapid Evidence Mapping (rEM). Environment International 2019 Feb; 123:451-458. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.11.070.
- Howard BE, Tandon A, Phillips J, Shah MR, Mav D, Shah RR (2018). “Using Machine Learning and SWIFT-Active Screener to Reduce the Expense of Evidence Based Toxicology.” Poster presentation at the Society of Toxicology’s 57th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, San Antonio, TX.
- Glynn C, Tokdar ST, Howard B, Banks, D (2018). “Bayesian Analysis of Dynamic Linear Topic Models.” Bayesian Analysis.
- Howard BE, Tandon A, Phillips J, Shah MR, Mav D, Shah RR (2017). “Using Machine Learning and SWIFT-Active Screener to Reduce the Expense of Evidence Based Toxicology.” Poster presentation at the Genetics and Environmental Mutagenesis 2017 Annual Fall Meeting, RTP, NC
- Howard BE, Miller K, Phillips J, Shah M, Mav D, Thayer K, Shah R (2017). “Enabling Evidence-Based Toxicology with SWIFT Active Screener.” Poster presentation at the Society of Toxicology’s 56th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, Baltimore, MD.
- Miller K, Howard BE, Phillips J, Shah MR, Mav D, Thayer K, Shah RR (2016). “SWIFT-Active Screener: Reducing Literature Screening Effort Through Machine Learning for Systematic Reviews.” 24th Cochrane Colloquium. Seoul, South Korea.
- Howard BE, Miller K, Shah RR (2016). “SWIFT-Active Screener (A Brief Introduction).” National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Research Triangle Park, NC.
- Miller K, Howard BE, Phillips J, Shah MR, Mav D, Thayer K, Shah RR (2016). “Updating Systematic Reviews with Active Learning.” 24th Cochrane Colloquium. Seoul, South Korea.
- Miller K, Howard BE, Phillips J, Shah MR, Mav D, Shah RR (2016). “SWIFT-Active Screener: Reducing Literature Screening Effort Through Machine Learning for Systematic Reviews.” Poster presentation at the Society of Toxicology’s 55th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, New Orleans, LA.

