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Welcome to the Author Digest, May 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.
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Contents Reminder: Conflict of interest policy and practice changes
Preprint Cochrane protocols and reviews
Cochrane data use by AI developers
Updated guidance for recognizing supporting groups in reviews
Reminder: New random-effects methods in RevMan
Covidence
Top tips
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1. Reminder of upcoming changes to Cochrane's conflict of interest policies and declarations of interest
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As announced previously, Cochrane is making important updates to our conflict of interest processes. Full details about the changes are on the Cochrane community website. As a reminder, as part of these changes: - Submitting your manuscript before June 2nd? You will continue to use the Convey system to submit your declarations of interest after submission.
- Submitting your manuscript on or after June 2nd? Please ensure every author has completed a Word declarations of interest form, that these are included with your submission to Editorial Manager, and that the "Declarations of interest" section in the manuscript is drafted and reflects the forms at submission.
Please note, the author guidance and editorial policies will be updated just before June 2nd with the new process and policy. If you have questions, Cochrane’s Research Integrity Team is happy to help! Please contact researchintegrity@cochrane.org.
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2. You can now preprint your Cochrane protocols and reviews
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Authors can now export a version of their submitted manuscript to post on a public preprint server at any time up until acceptance. It is made clear that authors are solely responsible for the content, that a preprint has not been through Cochrane’s editorial or peer review process and is not endorsed or approved by Cochrane. Instructions for how to export are available in the RevMan Knowledge Base and the policy is available on the Cochrane Library Editorial Policies page.
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3. Updated guidance on use of Cochrane data by AI developers
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We have updated our author FAQs on data to clarify that AI developers are subject to the same terms and conditions for re-use as human users. AI developers and companies must obtain authorization before using data from Cochrane reviews for AI development, training, or implementation, and all terms of the licence associated with each review apply; no implied permission exists without a licence. More details on use of copyrighted data are available from Wiley.
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4. Updated guidance for recognizing supporting groups in your reviews
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From 2nd June, authors can acknowledge supporting groups in the byline using the phrase “supported by the Cochrane [Group Name]” via RevMan’s group attribution field. This replaces the previous method of listing groups in the "Information" section. Individual contributions of group members can still be listed in the Acknowledgements section. The change applies only to new submissions from 2nd June; changes cannot be made retrospectively. See more details in the RevMan Knowledge Base.
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5. Reminder: Starting 1 July, all new protocols should use the new random-effects methods in RevMan
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Cochrane is committed to providing users with the most up-to-date methodologies to produce more accurate and robust research results. In January, following recommendations of the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group, RevMan introduced a new set of statistical methods for use with the random-effects models in systematic reviews of interventions.
Starting 1 July, all new protocols should use these methods. Please note, if you have already submitted your protocol, review, or update, and are currently revising following editorial and peer review comments, you should not change your statistical methods unless asked to do so.The following resources provide more information about these methods: If you have any questions, please contact support@cochrane.org.
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In this live session, we’ll guide you through the screening stage of systematic and other review types—from setting criteria to resolving conflicts. - Learn how to apply inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Explore best practices for title/abstract and full-text screening
- Understand how to ensure transparency and manage reviewer agreement
Perfect for researchers, students, and librarians involved in evidence synthesis, this session will equip you with practical skills for efficient and unbiased study selection. Can’t make it live? Register anyway—we’ll send you the recording within 24 hours.
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7. Top tips for Cochrane Authors
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