Cochrane
About
Cochrane is for anyone interested in using high-quality information to make health decisions. Whether you are a doctor or nurse, patient or carer, researcher or funder, Cochrane evidence provides a powerful tool to enhance your healthcare knowledge and decision making.
Cochrane’s members and supporters come from more than 130 countries, worldwide. Our volunteers and contributors are researchers, health professionals, patients, carers, and people passionate about improving health outcomes for everyone, everywhere. Our global independent network gathers and summarizes the best evidence from research to help you make informed choices about treatment and we have been doing this for 25 years.
We do not accept commercial or conflicted funding. This is vital for us to generate authoritative and reliable information, working freely, unconstrained by commercial and financial interests.
OurStrategy to 2020aims to put Cochrane evidence at the heart of health decision-making all over the world.
Living review
Cochrane recently converted their review of electronic cigarettes to a living review, to report 6 monthly, the first report of this living review is linked below:
electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation cochrane living systematic review-1
More info
About the Cochrane LibraryThe Cochrane Library (ISSN 1465-1858) is a collection of databases that contain different types of high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making. The Cochrane Library is owned byCochraneand published byWiley. Seewhat’s new on the Cochrane Library.
The Cochrane Library is available as aSpanish language version.More information on translations.
Databases
Cochrane Database of Systematic ReviewsTheCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR)is the leading resource for systematic reviews in health care. (ISSN: 1469-493X)
CDSRincludes all Cochrane Reviews (and protocols) prepared byCochrane Review Groups. Each Cochrane Review is a peer-reviewed systematic review that has been prepared and supervised by a Cochrane Review Group (editorial team), according to theCochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of InterventionsorCochrane Handbook for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Reviews.CDSRalso includesEditorialsandSupplements.
CDSRis built throughout the month, with new and updated reviews and protocols being continuously published when ready.
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)TheCochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)is a highly concentrated source of reports of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. In addition to bibliographic details (author, title, source, year, etc) CENTRAL records often include an abstract (a summary of the article). They do not contain the full text of the article.
CENTRAL is published monthly.
Cochrane Clinical AnswersCochrane Clinical Answers(CCAs) provide a readable, digestible, clinically-focused entry point to rigorous research from Cochrane Reviews. They are designed to be actionable and to inform point-of-care decision-making. Each CCA contains a clinical question, a short answer, and data for the outcomes from the Cochrane Review deemed most relevant to practising healthcare professionals, our target audience. The evidence is displayed in a user-friendly tabulated format that includes narratives, data, and links to graphics. Cochrane Clinical Answers were developed by Cochrane Innovations and Wiley.
More about Cochrane Clinical Answers
Featured content
Special CollectionsSpecial Collections are curated content collections on a specific healthcare topic.
Search content hosted by EpistemonikosThe federated search feature allows Cochrane Library users to search systematic reviews from the Epistemonikos health evidence database. This feature is available via the Search box on the home page and Search tab on the Advanced Search, but is not available on the Search Manager, MeSH or PICO search BETA tabs.
Search content hosted by McMaster Health ForumThe federated search feature also allows Cochrane Library users to search systematic reviews from McMaster Health Forum's repositories: Health Systems Evidence (HSE) and Social Systems Evidence (SSE). This feature is available via the Search box on the home page, but is not available on the Advanced Search tabs.
Editor in Chief and Editorial Board
Editor in ChiefDr Karla Soares-Weiser is the Editor in Chief of the Cochrane Library (since June 2019). Toby Lasserson is the Deputy Editor in Chief.
Contact:emd@cochrane.org
Cochrane Library Editorial BoardThe Editorial Board is responsible for supporting the Editor in Chief and for overseeing the strategy and development of the Cochrane Library, including the review production process of Cochrane Reviews published in theCDSR.
- Lisa Bero, Senior Editor,Public Health and Health Services Network(University of Sydney, Australia)
- Robert Boyle, Senior Editor,Children and Families Network(Imperial College London, UK)
- Michael Brown, Senior Editor,Acute and Emergency Care NetworkandCirculation and Breathing Network(Michigan State University, USA)
- Cindy Farquhar, Senior Editor,Abdomen and Endocrine Network(University of Auckland, New Zealand)
- Paul Garner, Senior Adviser, Innovations and Review Production (University of Liverpool, UK)
- John Lavis, Senior Adviser, Knowledge Translation (McMaster University, Canada)
- Jane Noyes, Senior Advisor, Methods (Bangor University, UK)
- Nicole Skoetz, Senior Editor,Cancer Network(University of Cologne, Germany)
- Peter Tugwell, Senior Editor,Musculoskeletal, Oral, Skin and Sensory Network(Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada)
- Steven Woloshin, External Member (Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, USA)
The main roles of the Editorial Board are to:
- develop editorial, publishing, and content strategies with the Editor in Chief;
- support the Editor in Chief in the implementation of changes to improve consistency in the quality and timeliness of Cochrane Review preparation and publication;
- support the Editor in Chief in the development, implementation, and audit of editorial policies and practices;
- monitor the performance of the Cochrane Library; and
- work closely with the Editor in Chief to develop and oversee implementation of future strategy for the Cochrane Library.
The Editorial Board includes the eight Network Senior Editors; a methodologist; one external member (representing the end users and with relevant experience in the area of evidence synthesis and its application in global decision making); and one representative from the Cochrane community who brings specific expertise in knowledge translation.
The Editorial Board is chaired by the Editor in Chief. Members of the Editorial Board are appointed for a renewable fixed term.
Committees
Cochrane Library Scientific CommitteeTheCochrane Library Scientific Committeeis the main decision making body to agree what methods are employed within Cochrane and advises the Editor in Chief. In making its judgements the Scientific Committee draws upon empirical evidence supported by expertise within the Cochrane community, and in particular its Methods Groups.
- Corinna Dressler (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
- Donna Gillies (Western Sydney Local Health District, Australia)
- Jamie Hartmann-Boyce (University of Oxford, UK)
- Asbjørn Hróbjartsson (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
- Ana Marušić (Split School of Medicine, Croatia)
- Mona Nasser (University of Plymouth, UK)
- Jane Noyes (Bangor University, UK)
- Tomas Pantoja (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile)
- Philippe Ravaud (Paris Descartes University, France)
- Johannes Reitsma (University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands)
- Rebecca Ryan (La Trobe University, Australia)
- Nicole Skoetz (University Hospital of Cologne, Germany)
- Nichole Taske (National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence, UK)
More about the members of the Cochrane Library Scientific Committee
Cochrane Library Oversight CommitteeThe Cochrane Library Oversight Committee supports the Editor in Chief's editorial independence by providing a mechanism for avoiding or resolving disputes about the content of the Cochrane Library, or any editorial positions taken by the Editor in Chief in respect of the Cochrane Library.
- Ginny Barbour, Chair (QUT, Australia)
- Tracey Koehlmoos, Deputy Chair (Uniformed Services University, USA)
- Saeed Farooq (Keele University, UK)
- Manu Mathew (WHO-RNTCP, India)
- David Moher (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada)
- Lijing Yan (Duke Kunshan University, China)
- Charles Young (Capita, UK)
The Committee can be contacted viaemd@cochrane.org.
Editorial and publishing staff
Cochrane Review Group editorial teamsEachCochrane Review Groupfocuses on a specific topic area and is led by a Co-ordinating Editor(s) and an editorial team including a Managing Editor, Information Specialist, and specialist Editors. The Cochrane Review Groups provide authors with methodological and editorial support to prepare Cochrane Reviews, and manage the editorial process, including peer review. Information about each team is available onCochrane Review Group websites.
Since 2018, Cochrane Review Groups have been organized into eight Cochrane Networks, responsible for the efficient and timely production of high-quality systematic reviews that address research questions that are most important to decision makers. See theCRG Networks Portalfor further information.
Cochrane editorial staff
- Editor in Chief: Karla Soares-Weiser
- Editor in Chief(Cochrane Clinical Answers): Christopher Bunt
- Deputy Editor in Chief: Toby Lasserson
- Senior Editors: John Hilton, Kayleigh Kew, Harriet MacLehose, Rachel Marshall
- Editors: Kerry Dwan, Monaz Mehta
- Editors (Cochrane Clinical Answers): Jane Burch, Sera Tort
- Information Specialist: Robin Featherstone
- Translations Co-ordinator: Juliane Reid
See acomplete list of Cochrane editorial staff.
Contact:emd@cochrane.org
Publishing staff (Wiley)
- Publisher: Deborah Pentesco-Murphy (dpentesc@wiley.com)
- Senior Editor: Karen Pettersen
- Editor: Tony Aburrow
- Production Manager: David Hives
Access
Cochrane aspires to prepare and publish high-quality research aimed at informing decision-making globally and to make this available to readers via one-click access.
For more information see:
History of the Cochrane Library
You can find a brief history of Cochrane in theCochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions; and also onWikipedia.
For further information please read the editorialChanges to The Cochrane Library during The Cochrane Collaboration’s first 20 years.