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Chapter 2: Preparing a Cochrane review

Editors: Sally Green and Julian PT Higgins.

Key Points

The publication of protocols for Cochrane reviews in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) prior to publication of the Cochrane review reduces the impact of authors’ biases, promotes transparency of methods and processes, reduces the potential for duplication, and allows peer review of the planned methods.
Cochrane reviews, and protocols for reviews, are prepared in the Cochrane Collaboration’s Review Manager (RevMan) software and have a uniform format.
An outline of a Cochrane Intervention review is provided in this chapter.
Titles for Cochrane Intervention reviews are agreed by and registered with Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs), who then manage the editorial process of publishing protocols and reviews.
Cochrane reviews are prepared by teams.
There are guidelines for co-publication of Cochrane reviews in other journals.
The Cochrane Collaboration has a code of conduct for avoiding potential financial conflicts of interest.