Important Information for Cochrane Authors
We’re looking to the future
To maintain our hard-earned place as one of the world’s most trusted health evidence producers, Cochrane is changing the way we do things and a lot has already happened. Some of these changes are significant but are leading to improvements for authors and users of Cochrane evidence. Please take a look at the information on the rest of this site to find out more, including project descriptions, FAQs and the latest news.
Cochrane doesn’t exist without its authors, and we want to keep you fully informed as we move forward together. The Support Team at Cochrane is ready to help you, so please don't hesitate to reach out to support@cochrane.org if you have any questions.
Please spare 15 minutes and help us to keep improving the New Focused Review Format.
We want to ensure that the changes we’ve made are working effectively and are simple for you to use. So, we are inviting members of the Cochrane community to take part in a short survey before 29 February 2024 to give us feedback on the changes and help us prioritise the most useful areas next.
A lot has happened in the past twelve months
The last twelve months have been a busy time for Cochrane. In recent years, evolving funder expectations, changing user needs and a shift towards open-access publishing have all reshaped the health publishing landscape. We’ve started making some major changes to keep our place as a global leader in health evidence and to ensure we’re able to meet the health evidence needs of a changing world.
Here, we’ve pulled together some of the key achievements in 2023 delivered through our Future of Evidence Synthesis programme.
Cochrane announces new policy on AI-generated content
Cochrane has introduced a new policy addressing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in generating written content for its publications. We have been carefully monitoring the use of Artificial Intelligence in the publishing sector and developed this new policy in response to the rapid emergence and adoption of AI writing tools.
Creating a Focused Review Article: Improvements for Authors
We made some big changes in 2023 to more easily innovate how we share and use evidence to meet our stakeholders’ needs. This has led to several improvements for Authors. Read more.
Study centric data management: Take a look at our new interactive infographic
Cochrane’s Training Team has prepared an interactive infographic and a step-by-step approach for getting the best from our new study-centric data management and analysis approach. Read more and use the infographic.
Reporting standards: changes to help create practical and sustainable Cochrane Reviews
Cochrane is dedicated to improving the maintenance of our reviews and enhancing access to clear, useful health information. As part of this, Cochrane will be changing the reporting guidance that our authors use. We will be using publishing standard guidelines, such as the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for systematic reviews of interventions. Read more.
What you need to know about improvements to data management in RevMan
Cochrane has now fully upgraded to RevMan Web, meaning RevMan 5, the desktop version, is no longer available. Authors now have access to a new data management feature – study centric data - when creating new reviews. For ongoing protocols and reviews, switching this feature on is simple and can be done yourself. Read more.
“This will create a better experience for authors” – an interview with Juan Franco from the Governing Board
Juan Franco started as a Cochrane author in 2015, before becoming a Geographic Group Director in 2017 and then Contact Editor for the Urology Group in 2018. In 2020 he was elected as a member of Cochrane’s Governing Board. Here, he explains the need for some of the changes being introduced and his hopes for the future of Cochrane. Read more.
“We need to keep refining our approach…I’m very optimistic” - an interview with Tari Turner from Cochrane Australia
Tari Turner is a Professor at Cochrane Australia’s School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine at Monash University and is also Director of the Australian Living Evidence Consortium and the National Clinical Evidence Taskforce. Tari has been a part of Cochrane Australia since 2007, publishing her first review in 2013. Here, she explains her background at Cochrane, her excitement about the future, and her unusual alarm clock. Read more.