I would recommend going to the Cochrane Collaboration website and reading through their tutorial modules on Systematic Reviews and meta analysis. They are world leaders in Systematic Reviews. "They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting. and diagnostic tests" ( http://www.cochrane.org/) .They have a library of previously conducted Systematic Reviews.They also offer a free statistical program called RevMan (version 5) to carry out a meta-analysis if required. Anyone conducting a systematic review should know about the Collaboration's library.

software:

http://ims.cochrane.org/revman

I personally use CMA (comprehensive meta-analysis) version 2. It is very easy to work with and highly user friendly.

You can download a trial version from

www.metaanalysis.com

If the nature of your study is diagnostic, you can use MetaDisc ver 1.2 which is freely available.

I would recommend going to the Cochrane Collaboration website and reading through their tutorial modules on Systematic Reviews and meta analysis. They are world leaders in Systematic Reviews. "They investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting. and diagnostic tests" ( http://www.cochrane.org/) .They have a library of previously conducted Systematic Reviews.They also offer a free statistical program called RevMan (version 5) to carry out a meta-analysis if required. Anyone conducting a systematic review should know about the Collaboration's library.

software:

http://ims.cochrane.org/revman

Thank you all for the answers and suggestions, Murray: I thought my question is quit narrow cause I asked specific for systematic review not general statistical packages for data analysis. Steve, yes, I heard that Cochrane is the best, I will use it, thank you!

A free and quite good software is Meta-Disc:

http://www.hrc.es/investigacion/metadisc_en.htm

you can use Cochrane's Revman which is free to download, has an easy to use interface for meta-analysis. It does not allow for meta-regression though. T&C's here http://ims.cochrane.org/revman/licensing

As I see there are tools for meta-analysis, my studies are quite different in methodology, hence I am not able to conduct a meta-analysis. I am doing a systematic review. Thank you very much for your help, I will review all these tools and will choose a proper one for my review. Thank you again!

I think I will use the EPPI-Centre tool. Anyone used it before?

I would concur that if it is not a meta-analysis, then to go with Cochrane. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis is easy to use and excellent for meta-analyses, but the Cochrane tool does a good job of taking you through step-by-step along with an option for meta-analyses should you choose.

I used comprehensive meta-analysis program. I think it is user friendly although i had a problem in getting high resolution images of meta-analysis diagrams.

Thank you all for the good suggestions! I already started my analysis and I am at writing stage, lets hope someone will accept my review!

The human brain - always a good choice. :)

There are many tools some complex some intuitive in use and most are not free. Might I suggest you look at RAYYAN which has been developed specifically for what you're suggesting and closely matches your requirements. http://rayyan.qcri.org/

I have used it for 5 of my recent Cochrane reviews.. it is on the 'recommended' list of Cochrane/MAGIC/Systematic Review Toolbox. Evidence-aid are about to use it and if you attend the Evidence-live conference you will see we are giving a workshop. http://evidencelive.org/programme/ on RAYYAN

Oh and one more thing I am currently using it to build a Oral cancer evidence based Clinical Resource. AND ITS FREE

try to find here http://www.statistical-software.net/

We have developed a simple and free tool to perform meta-analysis in Microsoft Excel that you could use. The tool is called Meta-Essentials and can be found at http://www.meta-essentials.com

Meta-Essentials can be used for all your basic meta-analyses. Moreover, it can be used for subgroup-analysis, moderator analysis, and publication bias analysis.

For more advanced meta-analyses like meta-regression, multilevel and network meta-analysis the metafor package for R might be useful for you. This can be found at http://www.metafor-project.org/

Best of luck!

 Zbys Fedorowicz -- Could you tell me how do you distinguish screening for a full text review and an abstract review in RAAYN

I would suggest SRDB PRO ( https://srdb.pro)

Very good and easy to use program. I have managed 3000 papers for a review with ease with this tool. It is free and more importantly have an excellent customer service (although it is free, yes). They always answer back my questions and find a solution. Program works on windows and uses internet based (cloud I think) database, so you can log in your study from any computer. You should check.

PLease can you tell me if is correct to use Rayyan QCRI for qualitative review?

It is free, and more accessible for students, but I don't know if is appropriate for qualitative review. Thank you

I think you mean Meta-Analysis? Try meta-disc or STATA 16

Hi!

I would recommend going to the "Comprehensive Meta Analysis V3.exe" (Cochrane).

Good luck!