PRISMA Flow Diagram for Systematic Reviews

A PRISMA flow diagram is a standardized flow chart that shows how records were identified, screened, assessed for eligibility, and included in a systematic review or meta-analysis. It documents counts at each PRISMA phase and the reasons studies were excluded, so readers can follow your study-selection process.

You can generate a PRISMA diagram on SciFig: describe your systematic review, and the PRISMA flow diagram maker produces an editable figure following the PRISMA 2020 layout. You then fill in your own record counts and exclusion reasons and export it for your paper.

It shows the flow of information through the four phases of a review: how many records were identified from databases and registers, how many duplicates were removed, how many records were screened and excluded, how many full-text reports were assessed for eligibility, and how many studies were finally included.

Yes. After generating the figure you can open it in SciFig's editor to vectorize it into clean SVG, relabel every box, adjust the exclusion reasons, and update the numbers to match your own review before exporting.

Most journals that follow the PRISMA reporting guideline expect a flow diagram. It is part of the PRISMA checklist and helps reviewers and readers verify that your study-selection process was transparent and reproducible, so including one is strongly recommended for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram updates the 2009 version to separate records identified from databases and registers, to better account for records removed before screening, and to clarify the reasons reports are excluded. SciFig follows the PRISMA 2020 layout by default, and you can adapt it to the 2009 format if a journal requires it.