Welcome to the Author Digest, July 2025

We hope you find it helpful.

This digest goes out to all active Cochrane authors and will continue to be sent to authors who are opted in. Please review your communication preferences in your Cochrane Account and ensure you are opted in to communications.

Contents

How is Cochrane advancing responsible AI for evidence synthesis?
Why systematic reviewers should lead the charge for research integrity
Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods now indexed in PubMed Central
Upcoming Learning Live webinar: Cochrane's Conflict of Interest policies and process: what's new
Recent update to the intervention review template
Reminder: Cochrane's new declarations of interest form
Upcoming Methods Support Unit web clinics
Covidence
Top tips for Cochrane authors

1. How is Cochrane advancing responsible AI for evidence synthesis?

Systematic reviews are built on the principles of rigor, transparency, and replicability. However, many current AI solutions don’t meet these principles. At Cochrane, we are committed to addressing this challenge with an approach that is measured and responsible.

Take a look at our news story, to discover the work we are doing to ensure AI is used responsibly in evidence synthesis.

2. Why systematic reviewers should lead the charge for research integrity

Systematic reviews are only as credible as the studies they include. After investing months or years into a review – don't we owe it to ourselves, and the people who rely on our work, to make sure each included study is real and trustworthy? Lisa Bero argues that systematic reviewers are uniquely positioned – and ethically obligated – to detect problematic studies and champion research integrity.

Find out how and why you should embrace new tools, commit to transparency and speak up.

3. Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods now indexed in PubMed Central

We’re thrilled to share that Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods is now officially live in PubMed Central (PMC) – and its articles are fully discoverable via PubMed. This is a major milestone for the journal. It means broader visibility, easier access, and greater impact for the high-quality methods and other evidence synthesis articles published in Cochrane's open access journal. Explore the journal profile on PMC, and browse its published articles in PubMed. Next steps on the indexing pathway for CESM are the Web of Science Core Collection, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) – applications for both are submitted and under evaluation.

4. Upcoming Learning Live webinar: Cochrane's conflict of interest policies and process: what's new

Thursday, 28 August 2025, 13:00 UTC
Cochrane has recently made updates to its conflict of interest (COI) policies and the way we collect declarations of interest from our authors. This webinar summarises the changes and gives some insight into the reasons Cochrane’s COI policy is one of the strictest in the world.
Register here.

5. Methods Support Unit web clinics

The September clinic on Risk of Bias 2 will have a Q&A format - we’ll be asking for your questions in advance and discussing them in the session. The October clinic will feature a presentation on Version 2 of the ROBINS-I tool to assess risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions. Don’t forget – if you sign up, you will automatically be sent a recording of the session afterwards.

Risk of Bias 2 (RoB 2) Q&A. Thursday 11th September 8am UTC (check in your time zone)

Version 2 of the ROBINS-I tool. Thursday 2nd October 8am UTC (check in your time zone)

6. Recent update to the intervention review template

Cochrane's intervention review template contains essential guidance on conducting your review and reporting your findings. The intervention review template is updated periodically to ensure authors have clear and current guidance on best practice for Cochrane reviews. We therefore advise that authors always open the template as a practice review in RevMan to ensure you are always viewing the latest version. For access to, and more details on using, the template visit the RevMan Knowledge Base.

The following sections of the template have been updated in July 2025:

• 'background > why use this template': updated to include recommended word count for reviews and updates.

7. Reminder: Cochrane's new declarations of interest form

As announced in previous digests, Cochrane changed the way we collect author declarations of interest in June 2025. Please ensure that all authors have filled in the form downloadable from our Editorial Policies page and include the forms for the entire author team with your submission to Editorial Manager. Please do not use any other document format (such as a copy of the Declarations of Interest section in the manuscript).

8. Covidence Extraction 1 Tool

Join our upcoming webinar! In this live session, We'll cover everything from template setup to exporting your final data, including: 

• Creating and customizing templates 
• Managing your review team 
• Extracting and reaching consensus 
• Understanding how your setup impacts exports

Bonus: A live Q&A to tackle your questions. 

Whether you're new or experienced, this session is designed to sharpen your skills and boost your confidence using Data Extraction 1 in Covidence. 

📅 Can’t make it live? Register anyway—we’ll send you the recording within 24 hours.

9. Top tips for Cochrane Authors

Have a question about being a Cochrane author, or about what resources are available to you while working on your review? Explore the For authors section of the redesigned Cochrane website! It's designed to be a one-stop shop for authors, with all the information you could need in one place. 

Contact us

If you have questions about any of the above items, please contact Cochrane Support.