Transform weeks of manual literature screening into hours
Research-grade accuracy • Privacy-first • Always free • Trusted by 18 institutions
The Challenge You Face: Screening thousands of papers manually is exhausting. It takes weeks, leads to inconsistencies, and burns you out before the real research begins.
Your Solution is Here: MetaScreener combines cutting-edge AI with human expertise to screen literature with 95%+ accuracy while giving you back weeks of your life.
Human-AI Partnership → We enhance your expertise, never replace it
Privacy First → Your data stays secure, processing happens locally
Lightning Fast → Process 1000+ abstracts in under 30 minutes
Research Frameworks → 8 validated frameworks (PICOT, SPIDER, PICOS...)
AI Flexibility → Choose from OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or DeepSeek
|
Your literature database → Intelligent decisions Upload RIS file → Define criteria → Get reasoned decisions Deep dive into methodology and content Upload PDFs → Extract insights → Quality assessment |
Transform papers into structured datasets Define fields → Extract data → Export ready results Automated methodological evaluation Upload studies → AI evaluation → Detailed scoring |
Total Time: ~17 minutes Cost: $0.07-$1.50 per review Success Rate: 95%+
| AI Provider | Cost per 100 abstracts | Performance | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
|
DeepSeek deepseek-chat, deepseek-reasoner |
$0.07-0.12 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Ultra cost-effective projects |
|
OpenAI GPT-4, GPT-4 Turbo |
$2.15-4.30 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Premium accuracy & reasoning |
|
Anthropic Claude Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus |
$2.85-5.70 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Advanced reasoning & safety |
|
Google Gemini Gemini 1.5 Pro, Gemini 1.5 Flash |
$3.55-6.40 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Multimodal capabilities |
Choose your research framework:
PICOT → Intervention studies PICOS → Systematic reviews
PECO → Epidemiological studies SPIDER → Qualitative research
ECLIPSE → Healthcare evaluation CLIP → Client-focused studies
BeHEMoTh → Behavioral studies PICOC → Comparison studies
Our Validation Framework - A Key Differentiator:
MetaScreener employs comprehensive validation standards that set us apart:
✓ Multi-layer Quality Control
→ Automated consistency checks across AI decisions
→ Real-time confidence scoring for each screening decision
→ Statistical validation against human expert baselines
✓ Evidence-Based Metrics
→ Cohen's Kappa for inter-rater reliability (0.85+ achieved)
→ Sensitivity & Specificity tracking with live feedback
→ Publication bias detection and flagging
✓ Continuous Calibration
→ AI model performance monitoring per research domain
→ Adaptive thresholds based on your screening patterns
→ Quality assurance reports with actionable insights
✓ Workflow Integration
→ Start with test samples (recommended: 50-100 papers)
→ Review AI reasoning with evidence citations
→ Fine-tune criteria based on validation metrics
→ Scale confidently with real-time quality monitoring
This validation system ensures research-grade reliability at every step.
Download your results in CSV, Excel, or JSON format
No installation needed. Just bring your API key and research questions.
Prerequisites: Python 3.10+ • 5 minutes • A cup of coffee
Installation Flow:
# 1. Get the code
git clone https://github.com/ChaokunHong/MetaScreener.git
cd MetaScreener
# 2. Set up environment
python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate # Windows: .\venv\Scripts\activate
# 3. Install and launch
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py
# 4. Open browser → http://localhost:5050Need OCR for scanned PDFs?
# macOS → brew install tesseract
# Ubuntu → sudo apt-get install tesseract-ocr
# Windows → Download from tesseract-ocr.github.ioVALIDATION DATASET: 4,230 articles • 18 global institutions
┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ Performance Metric │ Result │ What This Means │
├─────────────────────┼──────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ Sensitivity │ 95-97% │ Rarely misses relevant │
│ Specificity │ 85-92% │ Significantly reduces work │
│ Cohen's Kappa │ 0.85+ │ Excellent reliability │
│ Time Reduction │ 40-89% │ Average 68% time saved │
│ Cost Efficiency │ 99%+ │ Fraction of manual cost │
└─────────────────────┴──────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
CONTRIBUTING INSTITUTIONS:
• University of Oxford (UK) • Peking University (China)
• University of Sydney (Australia) • University of Melbourne (Australia)
• Imperial College London (UK) • University of Wisconsin (USA)
• + 12 more institutions worldwide
MANUAL vs AI-ASSISTED SCREENING
Traditional Method: MetaScreener Method:
┌─────────────────┐ ┌─────────────────┐
│ 2 Reviewers │ → │ 1 Researcher │
│ 3-4 Weeks │ │ 3-5 Days │
│ $2,000-5,000 │ │ $7-70 │
│ High Burnout │ │ Focused Work │
│ Variable │ │ Consistent │
└─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘
vs ✨
Manual Process AI-Enhanced
Dr. Sonia Lewycka • Lead Researcher & Visionary
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford
📧 slewycka@oucru.org
Chaokun Hong • Lead Developer & Architect
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, University of Oxford
📧 chaokun.hong@ndm.ox.ac.uk
Thao Phuong Nguyen • Co-Developer & Researcher
Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam
📧 ngthao.20107@gmail.com
Shuo Feng • UI/UX Innovation Partner
Macau University of Science and Technology
📧 fengsh27mail@gmail.com
Contributed essential UI/UX improvements and comprehensive testing
System Architecture
METASCREENER ARCHITECTURE
┌─────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Layer │ Technologies & Purpose │
├─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Frontend │ HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript + PDF.js │
│ │ → Responsive UI with real-time updates │
├─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Backend │ Python + Flask + Gunicorn │
│ │ → RESTful API with session management │
├─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ AI Integration │ OpenAI • Anthropic • Google • DeepSeek │
│ │ → Multi-provider LLM orchestration │
├─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Document Engine │ PyMuPDF + Tesseract OCR + pandas │
│ │ → Advanced text extraction & processing │
├─────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Deployment │ Docker + Cloud-native + SSE │
│ │ → Scalable infrastructure & monitoring │
└─────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────┘
Security & Privacy
Your Research, Your Control:
- API keys stored only in your browser session
- Files processed locally, then immediately deleted
- Zero data persistence on our servers
- End-to-end HTTPS encryption
Enterprise-Grade Security:
- Session security with automatic key rotation
- Comprehensive input validation and sanitization
- CORS protection against unauthorized access
- Strict file type and size validation
Active Learning Integration
→ AI learns from your feedback to improve accuracy over time
Advanced Analytics Dashboard
→ Real-time screening insights and team collaboration metrics
REST API Launch
→ Programmatic access for seamless workflow integration
Multi-user Collaboration Platform
→ Team accounts with role-based permissions and project sharing
Progressive Web Application
→ Mobile-optimized interface for screening on any device
Reference Manager Integration
→ Direct synchronization with Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote
Multilingual Literature Support
→ Advanced screening for non-English research papers
Custom Model Training
→ Domain-specific fine-tuned models for specialized fields
Predictive Research Analytics
→ Forecast screening workload and optimize resource allocation
Bug Reports → Found something unexpected? We want to know
Feature Requests → What would make your workflow smoother?
Validation Data → Share your screening datasets (anonymized)
Documentation → Help us create better guides and tutorials
- Primary Contact: chaokun.hong@ndm.ox.ac.uk
- Report Issues: GitHub Issues
- Join Discussions: GitHub Discussions
- Documentation: Comprehensive guides and tutorials available
Open Source License • Responsible Use Guidelines
Our Commitment: MetaScreener enhances but never replaces human judgment. Always validate AI decisions, follow your institutional protocols, and maintain research integrity. We're here to accelerate your research, not automate your expertise.
Join researchers at 18+ institutions worldwide who've already reclaimed weeks of their time
⭐ Star on GitHub • 💬 Join Discussion • 📧 Contact Team
Made with 💎 by researchers, for researchers
University of Oxford • Oxford University Clinical Research Unit
© 2025 MetaScreener Team • Empowering research excellence through AI innovation