Why deduplication belongs before screening

Duplicate records inflate workload, distort inter-rater metrics if split across reviewers, and make it harder to defend unique study counts in supplementary logs. Running deduplication immediately after imports—while preserving traceable merge decisions—is standard practice in centre-run reviews.

• Pair this step with citation management hygiene (consistent tags, exported fields, and dated search runs).
• Move the cleaned file into the screening tool so Include/Maybe/Exclude labels attach to unique rows only.
• If you are still building Boolean blocks, iterate in the search builder before you freeze exports—changing strategies after deduplication usually means re-running the whole chain.
• For workflow context across the suite, read the Quick start guide and the SLR glossary entry on deduplication.

Always keep a pre-deduplication archive of raw RIS files per database and date; journals and replication teams may ask for them even when the merged file is what you screened.