Describe your screening counts in plain text and get a PRISMA 2020 flow diagram you can drop into a thesis, protocol, or manuscript.
Free trial: 5 credits, 2K resolution with watermark
Sign in to start creating your own PRISMA flow diagrams
You already have the numbers in your screening spreadsheet. The slow part is redrawing the boxes and arrows every time a reviewer sends the counts back. Paste the numbers as a sentence and let the generator lay out the three phases.
Type the numbers in plain English: records identified, duplicates removed, records screened and excluded, reports sought and not retrieved, full texts assessed, exclusions with reasons, and studies included. Name your databases if you want them listed.
The generator arranges Identification, Screening, and Included as stacked bands, routes the main flow downward, and sends every exclusion to a box on the right β the structure the PRISMA 2020 statement specifies.
Read the rendered counts against your spreadsheet before you use the figure. Download PNG at 300 DPI for Word and journal submission, or SVG when you need to scale it for a poster.
Students Β· Researchers Β· Methods teachers
A PRISMA flow diagram is a reporting requirement, not a design choice. These are the three groups that hit that requirement most often.
First systematic review, hard deadline
Your supervisor asked for a PRISMA diagram and you have never drawn one. You know your counts; you do not know which box the 'reports not retrieved' number belongs in. Start from a correct layout instead of a blank canvas.
Submission-ready figures, fast revisions
Reviewer 2 asked you to split the database column from citation searching, and your counts shifted after the update search. Regenerate the whole figure from a revised sentence rather than nudging boxes in PowerPoint.
Teaching evidence synthesis
You teach search strategy and screening to cohorts who have never seen a flow diagram. Produce a blank template for a worksheet, then a filled example with realistic counts, without opening drawing software.
Six review designs
Each figure below was generated from the text shown underneath it. Reuse an example as a starting point and swap in your own counts.
Databases and registers only, single column, three phases
Two-column PRISMA 2020 with citation searching on the right
PRISMA-ScR style with grey literature and charted sources
Tracks the split between narrative synthesis and pooled effect sizes
Per-database record counts listed inside the identification box
Empty count boxes for a worksheet or thesis appendix
The PRISMA 2020 flow diagram has a fixed anatomy: three phases, a downward main path, and exclusions branching right. This generator starts from that anatomy instead of a blank drawing canvas.
Identification β Screening β Included
Phase labels run down the left edge as bands, the main flow moves top to bottom, and every exclusion count branches to a box on the right. That is the layout the PRISMA 2020 statement specifies, and it is the default here.
Every account gets free credits on sign-up, enough to draft your first PRISMA flow diagram. Upgrade for higher resolution, no watermark, and more generations while you iterate through screening rounds.
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Feedback from people who had to put a PRISMA flow diagram into a thesis, a protocol, or a submission.
Dr. Amara Okonkwo
Research Fellow, Public HealthOur update search added 400 records three weeks before submission. Regenerating the flow diagram from a revised sentence took under a minute; redrawing it by hand would have taken an afternoon.
Priya Raghunathan
PhD Candidate, NursingI could never remember whether 'reports not retrieved' sat before or after the eligibility box. Starting from a correct PRISMA 2020 layout meant I was checking numbers instead of second-guessing the structure.
TomΓ‘s Herrera
Medical LibrarianFAQ
Turn your screening counts into a PRISMA 2020 figure in about a minute. Free credits on sign-up, PNG at 300 DPI, no design software required.
Databases only, or databases plus other methods
Mention citation searching, reference list screening, or grey literature and the figure splits into the two-column PRISMA 2020 variant, with both columns feeding a single included box at the bottom.
Itemised, not lumped together
Write 'excluded with reasons: wrong population n=41, wrong outcome n=33, no full text n=18' and each reason appears as its own line inside the exclusion box, which is what peer reviewers check first.
Update search, new figure
An update search or a second screener changes half your numbers. Edit the sentence and generate again rather than dragging boxes and re-typing every n value in a drawing tool.
Word, LaTeX, posters
PNG at 300 DPI drops straight into a Word manuscript or slide deck at print quality. SVG scales to conference-poster size without softening the text, for journals that ask for vector figures.
Scoping, meta-analysis, blank template
Scoping reviews chart sources instead of including studies; meta-analyses separate qualitative synthesis from pooled effect sizes; teaching handouts need empty boxes. Say which one you need and the labels change to match.
I support about thirty review teams a year. Being able to hand someone a blank template and a worked example in the same session has made the search-strategy consultations much shorter.
Dr. Amara Okonkwo
Research Fellow, Public HealthOur update search added 400 records three weeks before submission. Regenerating the flow diagram from a revised sentence took under a minute; redrawing it by hand would have taken an afternoon.
Priya Raghunathan
PhD Candidate, NursingI could never remember whether 'reports not retrieved' sat before or after the eligibility box. Starting from a correct PRISMA 2020 layout meant I was checking numbers instead of second-guessing the structure.
TomΓ‘s Herrera
Medical LibrarianI support about thirty review teams a year. Being able to hand someone a blank template and a worked example in the same session has made the search-strategy consultations much shorter.
Dr. Amara Okonkwo
Research Fellow, Public HealthOur update search added 400 records three weeks before submission. Regenerating the flow diagram from a revised sentence took under a minute; redrawing it by hand would have taken an afternoon.
Priya Raghunathan
PhD Candidate, NursingI could never remember whether 'reports not retrieved' sat before or after the eligibility box. Starting from a correct PRISMA 2020 layout meant I was checking numbers instead of second-guessing the structure.
TomΓ‘s Herrera
Medical LibrarianI support about thirty review teams a year. Being able to hand someone a blank template and a worked example in the same session has made the search-strategy consultations much shorter.
Dr. Amara Okonkwo
Research Fellow, Public HealthOur update search added 400 records three weeks before submission. Regenerating the flow diagram from a revised sentence took under a minute; redrawing it by hand would have taken an afternoon.
Priya Raghunathan
PhD Candidate, NursingI could never remember whether 'reports not retrieved' sat before or after the eligibility box. Starting from a correct PRISMA 2020 layout meant I was checking numbers instead of second-guessing the structure.
TomΓ‘s Herrera
Medical LibrarianI support about thirty review teams a year. Being able to hand someone a blank template and a worked example in the same session has made the search-strategy consultations much shorter.
Dr. Lena Fischer
Senior Lecturer, Evidence SynthesisI generate a blank version for the worksheet and a filled version for the answer key. My students stop fighting the drawing software and actually think about what each count means.
Michael Adeyemi
MSc Student, EpidemiologyMy supervisor asked for the two-column version with citation searching split out. I described the second column in one sentence and got the layout I had spent two evenings trying to build manually.
Dr. Sofia Almeida
Postdoc, Clinical PsychologyThe exclusion box with itemised reasons is the part reviewers always query. Having each reason on its own line with its own count saved a round of revisions.
Dr. Lena Fischer
Senior Lecturer, Evidence SynthesisI generate a blank version for the worksheet and a filled version for the answer key. My students stop fighting the drawing software and actually think about what each count means.
Michael Adeyemi
MSc Student, EpidemiologyMy supervisor asked for the two-column version with citation searching split out. I described the second column in one sentence and got the layout I had spent two evenings trying to build manually.
Dr. Sofia Almeida
Postdoc, Clinical PsychologyThe exclusion box with itemised reasons is the part reviewers always query. Having each reason on its own line with its own count saved a round of revisions.
Rahul Menon
Systematic Review CoordinatorWe run several reviews in parallel and the figures used to look different depending on who drew them. Now every protocol in the portfolio uses the same structure.
Dr. Hannah Whitfield
Assistant Professor, Health Services ResearchFor a scoping review the labels have to say charted sources rather than included studies. Asking for the PRISMA-ScR variant got the right wording without me editing text boxes.
Kwame Boateng
DrPH Candidate, Global HealthI export SVG for the poster and PNG for the thesis chapter. Same figure, both formats, no quality loss when it gets blown up to A0.
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