PRISMA 2020 dual pipeline (databases + other methods)

Scenario

The 2020 update to PRISMA added a second identification pathway for studies found outside formal database searches — citation chasing, hand-searching reference lists, and expert recommendations. Reviewers must report these separately and show both streams merging into a single screening process. The prisma engine renders the two columns side by side with a Y-junction merge.

Annotation key

• mode: 2020-dual — adds the right-hand "Identification via other methods" column. The engine auto-detects dual mode whenever an other: block is present, so the explicit mode line is optional here.
• identification.other — its own n: total and sources: breakdown (citation search, hand search, expert recommendation).
• reports-sought: / reports-not-retrieved: — optional Screening detail lines for the retrieval step.
• Y-junction merge — the databases stream is the trunk; the other-methods stream drops and runs left to join it just above Screening.

Standard reference

Page MJ, McKenzie JE, Bossuyt PM, et al. The PRISMA 2020 statement. BMJ 2021;372:n71, Figure 2 (dual-source variant).