April 2023 (Next June 2023)

In this issue

1) Registration for the 2023 Cochrane Methods Symposium is open.

2) New study centric data management features in RevMan Web.

3) Upcoming events and opportunities to get involved include online webinars and Methods Support web clinics.

4) Meet Carol Lefebvre of the Information Retrieval Methods Group.

5) New resources include articles from our Methods Groups and much more!

Your top three highlights

Registration for the 2023 Cochrane Methods Symposium is open.

This year's Methods Symposium will be held as an in-person satellite event of the Cochrane Colloquium on September 3rd (13:00-16:30 BST UK). There are two sessions in the Symposium: The first on facilitating review and data reuse across the research ecosystem and the second on equity in evidence synthesis. Tickets are £45 and available to book when registering for the Colloquium. See more information here.

Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods has published its first articles.

We are delighted to share that Cochrane's first open access journal, Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods, has published its first articles. Catch up on all the publications so far on the journal's website, including a launch Editorial discussing how the journal will contribute to the field, a rapid review of the effect of pharmacological interventions for the treatment of people with post-COVID-19, and investigations into views on developing rapid reviews of diagnostic tests and sharing of review data, analytical code and other materials. Submit your research today.

New study centric data management features in RevMan Web.

Cochrane has fully moved to RevMan Web and with this change, a new data management feature – study centric data - is now available. With study centric data, authors set up their review's inclusion criteria and analyses within RevMan in advance (protocol stage) to facilitate data extraction and automatically populate their analyses. Core methods underpinning study centric data relate to defining the criteria for including studies (PICO criteria for the review) and defining criteria for how studies will be grouped for synthesis (PICO criteria for synthesis questions) detailed in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. See more information here with details about training below.

Events and opportunities

· May 4: Cochrane Methods Support Unit web clinic: New guidance on using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. Open to Cochrane authors, editors and staff; registration required.

· May 10 and 11: Cochrane Training Learning Live sessions: How study-centric data management in RevMan Web makes systematic review production quicker and easier. Open to Cochrane authors, editors and staff; registration required.

· May 17: Webinar Health, Equity, and Research Talks (HEaRT): Reporting Health Equity Implications of Observational Studies. Hosted by Unity Health Toronto (with Campbell and Cochrane Equity Methods Group). Open to all; registration required.

· May 18: Webinar How to extract, analyse and present in Scoping Reviews. Hosted by Evidence Synthesis Ireland. Open to all; registration required.

· May 24 and 25: Cochrane Training Learning Live sessions: Study-centric data analysis and data management in RevMan Web: methodological background and practical application. Open to Cochrane authors, editors and staff; registration required.

· June 1: Cochrane Methods Support Unit web clinic: Considering scope at the review planning stage. Open to Cochrane authors, editors and staff; registration required.

· June 7: ISBNPA Webinar Equity Considerations in Evidence Synthesis (with Campbell and Cochrane Equity Methods Group and Prospective Meta-Analysis Methods Group).

· June 13: Cochrane Training Learning Live sessions: Crossnma: An R package to synthesise cross-design evidence and cross-format data using network meta-analysis and network meta-regression. Open to Cochrane authors, editors and staff; registration required.

· June 22: Webinar Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM) reporting guideline. Hosted by Evidence Synthesis Ireland. Open to all; registration required.

Can you help with methods-related tasks? Browse Engage (formerly TaskExchange) for opportunities (tip! Filter by your specific skills). For more information on signing up and using the platform, see the instructions.

New resources

1) The recording from the last Methods Support Unit web clinic, "Handling heterogeneity in Cochrane reviews", is available on the Cochrane Training website.

2) Members of Rapid Reviews published the four first articles of a series focusing on general Rapid Review Methods in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

3) Members of Patient Reported Outcomes reported the results of a survey of Cochrane reviews' approaches to calculate and interpret pooled estimates of patient-reported outcome measures in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

4) Members of Prognosis evaluated the presence and frequency of spin practices and poor reporting standards in studies on machine learning-based prediction models in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

5) Members of Prospective Meta-Analysis describe the challenges of collating individual participant data to resolve controversies around cord clamping in Seminars in Perinatology.

6) Members of GRADEing participate in developing a glossary of terms related to collaboration in guideline development, published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

7) Members of Bias commented on actual access to individual patient-level data from randomised clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic in JAMA.

8) Members of Economic participate in reviewing the cost-effectiveness of interventions to limit the spread of healthcare-associated infections in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

9) Members of Equity, Qualitative and Implementation, and Non-Randomised Studies introduce the protocol for developing a global and Indigenous STROBE-equity reporting guideline in International Journal for Equity in Health.

10) Members of Rapid Reviews report the results of a Delphi survey on the most promising areas and methods to improve systematic reviews' production and updating in Systematic Reviews.

11) Members of Adverse Effects participate in developing a framework to distinguish between asset-based and deficit-based community studies in public health, published in Health Promotion International.

12) Members of Equity participate in a commentary addressing differences in terminology regarding evidence synthesis methodologies that address broad research questions in Systematic Reviews.

13) Members of Screening and Diagnostic Tests discuss how to critically appraise and interpret systematic reviews and meta-analyses of diagnostic accuracy studies in Radiology.

14) Members of Qualitative and Implementation comment on the adherence to journal eligibility criteria for trial reports and the AllTrials standards in submitted trial reports in the Journal of Clinical Nursing. 

15) Members of Adverse Effects measure the impact of zero-cases studies in evidence synthesis practice using the harms index and benefits index in BMC Medical Research Methodology.

16) Members of GRADEing update previous GRADE guidance addressing inconsistency and interpreting subgroup analyses in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

17) Members of Patient Reported Outcomes introduce an extension minimal-important difference credibility item addressing construct proximity as an alternative to the correlation item in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

Other news

· Please welcome Areti Angeliki Veroniki (Statistics Methods Group) as the new co-chair of the Methods Executive.

· The MuSE Consortium is asking for input to determine a suitable replacement for the term "Stakeholder" by filling out this survey.

· The Department for Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation at the University of Krems is currently looking for a postdoctoral researcher for a position as Assistant Professor for Methods Research in Evidence Synthesis. More information here.

· Cochrane Denmark and Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Odense (CEBMO), the Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, invite applications for a one-year position as a research assistant.

Meet Carol Lefebvre of the Information Retrieval Methods Group

1) What's the aim of the Methods Group and who else is involved? 

The Information Retrieval Methods Group aims to provide advice and support, to conduct research and to facilitate information exchange regarding the information retrieval activities of Cochrane. The Group is led by Co-Convenors Jessie McGowan (Canada), Alison Weightman (UK) and myself as the Lead Convenor.

2) What do you do outside of the Methods Group? 

As an independent information consultant, I spend a lot of my time teaching and preparing teaching materials. Outside of work, I am very keen though not very accomplished photographer.

3) What's your favourite thing about Cochrane?

My favourite thing about Cochrane is that it has remained an equitable organization with all professions treated and respected equally and all contributions valued. When we first set up the UK Cochrane Centre in 1992, with 4 professionally-qualified staff and 5 administrative staff, we decided not to use post-nominal letters in our communications, so as not to discriminate between the professionally qualified and the administrative staff. I have nothing against post-nominal letters per see, but it was the principle behind it which was so important, and it pleases me greatly that this principle remains to this day.

4) If you were stuck on a desert island, what would you take and why? 

Those of you who know that I am married to David Lefebvre (Cochrane IT support) will, no doubt, be expecting me to say that I would take my husband. Assuming, however, that animate objects are forbidden, I would have to choose the Kindle which my Cochrane Information Specialist colleagues kindly gave me as a leaving present when I left my post as Senior Information Specialist at the UK Cochrane Centre in 2012, so I would eventually be able to catch up on my reading!   I would, of course, need to take a solar-powered charging device!

Find out more about the Information Retrieval Methods Group:

●    Visit the Methods Group's website.

●    Join by selecting the Methods Group in the Methods Network web form.