December 2024

In this issue

1) Cochrane announces the new scientific strategy 2025-2030.

2) Cochrane protocols and editorials are going open access from 2025 onwards.

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

4) New resources include papers from our Methods Groups and much more!

Your top three highlights

Cochrane announces new scientific strategy

Over the past 30 years, Cochrane has published over 9,000 systematic reviews and developed a reputation as one of the most trusted sources of health evidence. We now want to go further to address the devastating health inequalities that still persist worldwide. Our new scientific strategy focuses on tackling the most pressing global health issues driving inequity, producing relevant evidence for and with those who need it most. Learn more about the strategy here.

Cochrane protocols and editorials are going open access

As part of our efforts to broaden access to Cochrane content, we are delighted to announce that all review protocols and editorials will be published with an open access license from 2025 onwards. Protocols accepted for publication from 8 November 2024 will be published with a Creative Commons non-commercial license without the need for an APC (article processing charge). For more information on our approach to broadening access, please see our open access strategy page.

Cochrane 2024 Lifetime and Emeritus Members

Cochrane is proud to share the news about the 2024 lifetime and emeritus memberships, recognizing the extraordinary contributions of individuals who have made an exceptional, long-standing contribution to Cochrane’s work and leadership. Learn more about these memberships here.

Events and opportunities

Upcoming

● January 9 2025: Cochrane Learning Live Session: Introduction to RevMan: a walk-through for new users. Open to all; registration required.

● January 16 2025: Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods in evidence synthesis: Learning Live webinar series: (How) can AI-based automation tools assist with systematic searching? Open to all; registration required.

● January 21 2025: Evidence Synthesis Ireland webinar/QES Companion Workshop Series - Workshop 1: Introduction, Formulating the question, Searching for Studies. Open to all; fees apply.

● January 28: Methods Support Unit web clinic: Demonstration of new random-effects methods in RevMan. Open to all; registration required.

● February 13 2025: Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods in evidence synthesis: Learning Live webinar series: Could large language models and/or AI-based automation tools assist the screening process? Open to all; registration required.

● February 13 2025: Evidence Synthesis Ireland webinar/QES Companion Workshop Series-Workshop 2: Study Selection, Extracting Data, Quality Assessment. Open to all; fees apply.

● February 20 2025: Evidence Synthesis Ireland webinar. Guidance on Terminology, Application, and Reporting of Citation Searching: The TARCiS Statement. 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

● Members of Statistics and Bias introduced the extension of the PRISMA 2020 statement for living systematic reviews (PRISMA-LSR) in the BMJ.

● Members of Qualitative and Implementation summarised the main discussions during the eighth meeting of the International Collaboration for the Automation of Systematic Reviews (ICASR) in Systematic Reviews.

● Members of Bias presented the results of an international cross-sectional survey of biomedical researchers' perspectives on the reproducibility of research in PLOS Biology.

● Members of Rapid Reviews and Qualitative and Implementation provided recommendations for promoting, developing, and applying safe stopping criteria in computer-assisted screening in Systematic Reviews.

● Members of Prognosis provided an overview of existing methodological quality assessment (QA) tools for diagnosis and prognosis studies in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology.

● Members of Economics provide a framework for action for the assessment of digital health technologies in India in the International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care.

● Members of Bias summarised analytic approaches that prevent immortal time when longitudinal data are available from the time of treatment assignment in Epidemiology.

● Members of Rapid Reviews summarised the main considerations and recommendations for evidence synthesis in rapid reviews in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

● Members of Co-Production and Statistics described the main barriers/facilitators to designing, maintaining, and utilizing rare disease patient registries in JBI Evidence Synthesis.

● Members of Prognosis introduced the CARE-AI tool, an ethics assessment tool for artificial intelligence implementation in Nature Medicine.

● Members of Co-Production discussed the role of risk score estimates in clinical decision-making and patient communication in Medical Decision Making.

● Members of Information Retrieval introduced the Terminology, Application, and Reporting of Citation Searching (TARCiS) statement in the BMJ.

Other news

●  The GRADE Mixed Methods group invites you to participate in the survey: "GRADE Mixed Methods Approach in Systematic Reviews and Guideline Development." This survey will help us understand current trends and practices in GRADE assessment and recommendation development when qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods studies are included in a systematic review or an evidence-based clinical practice guideline. Deadline: December 15 2024.