PRISMA Flow Diagram Generator

A PRISMA flow diagram is the mandatory reporting chart for systematic reviews and meta-analyses that shows how records moved through each stage of the review process: identification (database and register searches), screening (title and abstract review), eligibility (full-text assessment), and included (final studies in the synthesis). PRISMA stands for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, and most journals that publish these study types require the diagram before acceptance. SciFig's PRISMA flow diagram generator produces the correct four-stage layout with labeled boxes for record counts and exclusion reasons so your submission meets reporting standards from the first draft.

The original PRISMA diagram used a single identification box for all database results. The PRISMA 2020 update separates the identification stage into two tracks: records retrieved from databases and records retrieved from registers, plus a third lane for records identified through other methods such as citation searching, grey literature, and expert contacts. The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram generator in SciFig follows the 2020 template by default, so your diagram matches the current reporting standard expected by journals like The BMJ, PLOS Medicine, and Systematic Reviews.

Each box in a PRISMA flow diagram requires a numeric count. In the identification stage you record the total records retrieved from each database and register, plus any duplicates removed. In the screening stage you list records screened, records excluded at title-and-abstract level, and the reason. In the eligibility stage you enter the number of full-text articles assessed and how many were excluded with specific reasons (wrong population, wrong intervention, wrong outcome, wrong study design, and so on). In the included stage you record the final number of studies and, for meta-analyses, the number of reports. Enter your numbers when prompted in SciFig's PRISMA flow diagram generator and the diagram fills in automatically.

The eligibility stage of a PRISMA flow diagram includes a side box listing every reason full-text articles were excluded, with the count for each reason. Common exclusion reasons include wrong study design, wrong population, wrong comparator, conference abstract without full data, and duplicate publication. In SciFig's PRISMA diagram maker you list each exclusion reason and its count in plain language — for example 'wrong study design: 12, unavailable full text: 4' — and the generator places them in a correctly formatted exclusion reasons box beside the eligibility arrow.

Yes. Although the PRISMA 2020 guidelines were developed primarily for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the same four-stage flow diagram structure is widely used for scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and umbrella reviews. The PRISMA-ScR extension for scoping reviews follows a near-identical layout. SciFig's PRISMA flow chart builder generates the standard four-box identification–screening–eligibility–included template that works for all these review types, and you can relabel any box to match extension-specific terminology.

A PRISMA flow diagram is required or strongly recommended by the vast majority of journals publishing systematic reviews and meta-analyses, including Cochrane Reviews, The BMJ, JAMA, The Lancet, PLOS Medicine, Systematic Reviews, and journals indexed in PubMed that follow EQUATOR Network guidelines. The PRISMA 2020 checklist item 16a explicitly requires a flow diagram showing the number of records at each stage. SciFig's PRISMA flow diagram generator produces output that matches the figure requirements in these guidelines, so you can copy the exported image directly into your manuscript. SciFig works as a full PRISMA flow diagram maker and systematic review flow diagram tool for Cochrane, scoping, and student reviews alike.