INFORMATION FOR REVIEWER

General information
If you have the intention to develop a review, please contact someone in your neighbourhood or one of our group: contact Anja Helmerhorst (ahelmerhorst@LUMC.nl), and she is happy to give you the right information. 

If you would like to read about the system of developing a review, please have a look in the Handbook of Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane-handbook.org. The content of the Handbook is:

What's new

1. Introduction
2. Format of a Cochrane review
3. Developing a protocol
4. Formulating the problem
5. Locating and selecting studies
6. Assessment of study quality
7. Collecting data
8. Analysing and presenting results
9. Interpreting results
10. Improving and updating reviews
11. Reviews using individual patient data

Appendices

Glossary

Guideline title

  1. If you and you collaborators agree upon a subject, please check first the title list http://www.cochrane.org/reviews/en/topics/64.html
  2. Formulate your title according to the guidelines (If problems, contact ahelmerhorst@LUMC.nl ); we would like the title to fit in one of the three standard formats:
    1. <Intervention> for <Health problem>

      2. eg Antibiotics for acute bronchitis
    2. <Intervention A> versus <Intervention B> for <Health problem>

      3. eg Immediate vs delayed treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
    3. <Intervention> for <Health problem> in <Participant group/location>

    eg Inhaled nitric oxide for respiratory failure in preterm infants
  3. Register your title by filling in the Title Registration Form of our group
  4. Title Registration Form
  5. Identify your local Cochrane Center for courses ‘How to develop a review’, etc; see also under ‘Courses’ on this website.
Try to identify collaborators who might be interested in working together; see www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/firstcontact/


 Guideline protocol/review

For those working with Endnote for the Mac and wanting to use the Revman Program:

http://mac.unimaas.nl/endnote.html

In order to obtain software for developing a protocol or a review contact the managing editor AHelmerhorst@LUMC.NL


For further reading see the Module of the Fertility Regulation Group on the Cochrane Library with the content:

    • Contact address
    • What’s new
    • Background
    • Scope
    • Methods used in reviews
      1. Access to specialised registers by reviewers
      2. Additional search strategies
      3. Study selection
      4. Assessment of methodological quality
      5. Data collection
      6. Analysis
    • Statistical guidelines for reviewers in the fertility Regulation Group
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial information
    • Consumer involvement
    • Sources of support
    • Potential conflict of interest
    • Glossary
    • Specialised register
    • Publication

Which style of your protocol and review is requested?

The Cochrane Style Guide is designed to help review authors and people responsible for copy editing to use a consistent style when copy editing Cochrane Reviews and other documents produced by The Cochrane Collaboration.  Please, read http://www.cochrane.org/style/csg.htm

Guidelines of methodology in randomized controlled trials (in case of intervention)

The main product of CONSORT is the CONSORT Statement, which is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting RCTs. It offers a standard way for authors to prepare reports of trial findings, facilitating their complete and transparent reporting, and aiding their critical appraisal and interpretation.

 Guidelines of methodology in observational studies (in case of adverse effects)

http://www.strobe-statement.org/
von Elm E, Altman DG, Egger M, Pocock SJ, Gøtzsche PC, et al. (2007) The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: Guidelines for Reporting Observational Studies. PLoS Med 4(10): e296 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040296