The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is moving rapidly. At Cochrane, we are keenly aware of concerns within the health research community about keeping pace with - and making the most of - these advancements. In response, Cochrane is stepping forward to outline its strategic engagement with AI.
 

Our aim is to be strategic about our involvement with these emerging technologies and to foster collaboration across the sector to leverage the significant opportunities AI could bring in enhancing the quality and efficiency of health evidence synthesis. We want to share our planning about AI, how we're getting involved, and how we hope to work with others on this. We're serious about making the most of what AI can offer for our work in producing high quality health evidence.

Cochrane’s Ella Flemyng (Head of Editorial Policy and Research Integrity) and Anna Noel-Storr (Head of Evidence Pipeline and Data Curation) are collaborating with experts to plan a way forward for Cochrane to benefit from AI, looking at four priority areas:

Setting Standards for responsible AI use in evidence synthesis

We're creating guidance for using AI in evidence synthesis so that it is ethical and appropriate. We're not going it alone – we're currently working with the Campbell Collaboration and the International Collaboration for Automation in Systematic Reviews (ICASR), and are now calling to those across the evidence synthesis field to get involved.

We plan to share our first iteration of the guidance before the Global Evidence Summit 2024 and are collecting the details of those who want to provide feedback now. If you are interested, please do complete this survey so we can let you know when it’s available for feedback.

Making Sure AI Tools Measure Up

As part of developing standards, we're also looking at the best way to validate AI tools to ensure they're good enough to use. There is exciting work happening across the community developing AI tools for evidence synthesis, and we want to help tool developers to understand how to meet Cochrane standards and have a clear route for endorsement.

Building a Strong Foundation for Tool Implementation

Instead of trying to build our own AI tools from scratch, we're focusing on strengthening interoperability with our technical environment. This way, we can deploy endorsed AI technologies that are a good match for our needs. We hope this approach will help to ensure faster implementation of new AI technology.

Studying How AI Tools Affect Our Work

We encourage those across the community to investigate how using AI tools changes the way we develop, publish, and share our reviews. Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods, our open-access journal, welcomes research from across this area to contribute to the evidence base on how we conduct evidence synthesis and ensure we maintain our high-quality standards.   

To sum up, we're looking closely and working hard behind the scenes to stay ahead on AI and are keen to work with anyone interested in developing ethical AI standards and practices. Instead of just talking about new tools, we want to focus on meaningful contributions to how AI can be used responsibly in evidence synthesis.

We encourage the wider community and partners to get involved, share ideas with us and help shape how we all use AI. Together, we can make sure that AI helps us improve health evidence synthesis for everyone.
 

Cochrane is using Slack, an online collaboration and chat platform, to encourage communication between members of our core community.

Using Slack, you can connect with your own Cochrane Group, other Cochrane Groups, and Central Executive Team members easily. Slack is a true collaboration platform; you can request to form your own channels (smaller group chats or larger, themed groups), direct message people, make calls and share screens, and join channels that are relevant to your work. Slack can help you stay informed about goings on at Cochrane, hear the latest news, get support, chat, and participate. 

With many of us working from home due to COVID-19 circumstances, we introduced Slack to the Cochrane Community in March 2020. It has now become a 'virtual office'  and 'water cooler' space for many. There are channels to talk about translations, events, and support channels for all your Cochrane work questions...as well as space to share book recommendations and pictures of pets. Join the conversation and feel more connected with your colleagues!

Slack has been set up to allow access for Cochrane Core Staff. To log in to Slack, you will need a qualifying role in a Cochrane Group:

• Staff in Cochrane Central Executive, Fields, Geographic Groups, Review Groups, Satellites and Networks
• Group Member in Governing Board
• Managing Translator in Translation Projects
• Convenor in Methods Groups
• Copy Editor

If you are not sure if you have a qualifying role, you can check the Roles tab in your Cochrane Account. If you don't have a qualifying role, you will need to contact your primary group Super User, who can give you this role.

To access Slack, you can login to the Cochrane Slack Workspace using your Cochrane Login. If you need any help setting up your account, check out this Cochrane Helpdesk article.

We look forward to chatting with you soon on Slack!

With the recent organizational changes and following feedback on Cochrane’s previous complaints process, we have evolved our complaints procedure.

Why have we changed the procedure?

How has the procedure changed?

Cochrane previously had separate complaints processes for those raised about the content in the Cochrane Library and those raised about other issues within Cochrane.

Key enhancements and features for the new process include:

1. Centralized entry point: We have established a single entry point for all complaints, accessible through a user-friendly webform. This is to ensure all relevant information is provided to enable us to process complaints quickly and direct them to the correct person to manage. 
2. Management through an online platform: Complaints management will use the same platform that Cochrane Support uses for support tickets, which is a tried and tested platform for staying on top of the status and communications for issues that arise. It enables Cochrane to efficiently monitor the progress of complaints through the platform and help identify ways to develop the process going forward.
3. Triage and communication: Cochrane Complaints will be responsible for triaging complaints and assigning them to the most appropriate staff for assessment. They will also manage communication with those who raise complaints through our online platform.
4. Assessment and decision: The most suitable Central Executive staff member will be responsible for the assessment and decision-making process for each complaint.
5. Escalation to appeals: In cases where those who complained were dissatisfied with the response, these will be handled by an appeals board consisting of key Cochrane leadership figures, including the Editor in Chief, Chief Executive Officer, and up-to two members of the Governing Board. This collective approach will provide a supportive environment for decision-making and ensure a final decision can be made.

We are confident that this new procedure will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of complaints management in Cochrane. And with improved monitoring and reporting, we’ll be able to develop the process iteratively to improve the experience of those engaging with the process. The new complaints procedure is available via Cochrane Community.

https://community.cochrane.org/news/prizes-and-awards/cochrane-lmicumic-stipends

https://community.cochrane.org/news/prizes-and-awards/cochrane-consumer-stipends

Rebecca Costantini, PhD (UX consultant, Wiley), Rachel Craven (Product Lead, Cochrane Library), Samantha Cox (Information Specialist, Cochrane Library), and Colleen Finley (Technical Product Manager, Wiley) discuss the results from recent interviews with information specialists and librarians about their search strategy process.  

Search strategies are used to locate, retrieve, and organize literature across databases.  Librarians and information specialists often create complex search strategies to support multi-line searches for medical staff and researchers, standardize search strategy approaches for larger teams, and evaluate medical evidence (among many other things!). These search strategies often involve specific concepts, syntax, filters, subject headings, or limits that drive the search. The Cochrane Library has dedicated tools to facilitate quality search strategies, including advanced search, which contains search, search manager, medical terms (MeSH), and PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) search.  

We are always looking to improve our tools and services to help users unlock the power of Cochrane evidence, so in November 2023, we interviewed 12 information specialists and librarians from around the world to learn more about their search processes and what they need from us.

What did we learn?

The search process

Many of the information specialists and librarians we spoke with begin their search strategies with a few tasks, including:

• Develop search terms, such as MeSH terms and other keywords.
• Conduct preliminary searches.
• Build, search, and test terms for their search strategies.
• Prepare the search strategy they are creating to translate into other databases.

Search translation tools are sometimes used to translate initial search strategies so that they are compatible with other databases. They assist in translating search strategies across multiple databases, especially for larger searches.

Internal processes are often established to organize and standardize how search strategies are documented.​ Templates, folder structures, and documents are shared among colleagues and teams; and are sometimes mandated by the organization they work for and the agencies they serve.

Choosing a search tool 

Information specialists and librarians will first consider database scope, and often prioritize a flexible user interface when choosing search tools. The syntax, and available operators, fields and navigation will be an important consideration. For basic scoping, simpler approaches are favored. For searches for systematic reviews, for example, Cochrane Library’s search manager is the tool of choice. Additionally, the content of search strategies affects the choice in search tool, especially for semantically complex searches.

An efficient search process

The information specialists and librarians we spoke to often seek accessible, time-saving search features to facilitate longer, more complex searches. Search tools need to meet the requirements of existing process and be comprehensive. Information specialists and librarians do not have the resources to try new tools if they do not support their current processes. Some of the questions that resulted from these conversations revolved around how AI could play a bigger role in the future of building search strategies.  

Conclusions

Generally, we heard from users that the Cochrane Library search tools - particularly advance search and search manager - provide information specialists and librarians with all the tools they need, and almost everything they want to perform their day-to-day tasks.  

However, we were interested to learn that information specialists and librarians are not always aware of these Cochrane Library search features; or are unable to utilize them fully because of restrictions imposed by internal processes and policies. We also learned that users sometimes find that our interface is not always intuitive, because they are more familiar with other tools that work differently.  

Information specialists and librarians also told us that they valued trust, flexibility and functionality over performance (speed) on Cochrane Library, but that reliability is sometimes an issue; and that improvements in speed of performing tasks would be valued.

Next steps

We have been working with our publisher, Wiley, and their software development partner, Highwire, to improve performance, the speed at which complex searches run; and reliability, allowing users to run complex searches and get the results they need.  

We made several changes in early 2024 that resulted in incremental but significant improvements in these two key areas, and we hope these changes will address the needs of librarians and information specialists.

Our plans for 2024 involve making our training materials more useful and accessible to help information specialists and librarians get the most out of the Cochrane Library’s search tools. We will continue to look at ways of optimizing our search tools to support librarians and information specialists in performing their day-to-day tasks as efficiently as possible.

We continue to work on evolving the Cochrane Library search tools, and really value feedback from our users.

If you are interested in participating in future feedback opportunities about your Cochrane Library experience, complete this form. 

Cochrane has made significant changes and improvements to Cochrane’s review production model, which has led to the creation of our new focused review format. This isn't just a tweak - it's a complete overhaul to make life easier for our authors and improve how our systematic reviews are conducted and presented. 

Take a look below to find out more, and watch our two-minute video explaining the changes with Cochrane’s Ella Flemyng.

A new era for Cochrane Reviews - dates you need to know

From 1st April 2024, all new submissions should be in this new focused review format. If you are submitting after this date, please log into RevMan now and switch to the focused format. This is ahead of our big changeover on 1st June 2024, when all systematic reviews in RevMan will automatically convert to the focused format.

For those with protocols and reviews in the editorial and production stages as of June 1st, don't worry. Your RevMan file won't switch to the focused review format until after the final editorial decision, either publication if accepted, or rejection.

The Focused Review Format: Work Smarter, Not Harder

The focused format is designed to streamline the review process and make things simpler and clearer for our Authors. Not only will it simplify reporting and speed up the development of reviews, but it will also amplify the impact of published reviews.

From June 1st, all reviews in RevMan will automatically have access to study centric data management, which brings a host of benefits to authors. Study centric data will be available in RevMan files that use the following review types: Intervention, Methodology, Flexible. You'll be able to reuse study data between analyses and import study data from Excel and Covidence. You can read more here about the difference in the data management options.

If you're eager to get ahead of the curve, you can activate study centric data on your review dashboard now, before it automatically goes live on June 1st. Find out more in the RevMan Knowledge Base.

A consistent, clearer experience for all our Authors

Cochrane is making these changes to ensure all authors enjoy a consistent, simplified process. It will also make training and support much more straightforward. Cochrane’s author guidelines provide essential guidance on preparing your manuscript for submission, including how to check if your submission meets Cochrane standards and policies. For further details, don't hesitate to consult the RevMan Knowledge Base and Cochrane's author guidelines.

Do get in touch with Cochrane’s support team with any issues or questions!

The Cochrane Support team is the first point of contact for any queries coming from the Cochrane Community, including the Central Executive Team and Cochrane group staff, authors, editors, consumers, and the general public. If you have a question about Cochrane, we have an answer!

We maintain multiple resources for the Community to help you learn about Cochrane and answer questions that might arise:

• The Cochrane Help and Support Centre is an online portal that allows you to search for answers to common queries about Cochrane's work. For ease of access, you can reach the portal through the 'Help' tab in the top navigation bar of the Community website.
• The RevMan Web Knowledge Base is the first place to look when you have a question related to Cochrane’s review production software.
• The Editorial Manager Knowledge Base tells editors how to use our editorial management system for processing systematic reviews.
• The Cochrane Training site has many addition resources which is maintained by the Learning team.

If needed, we connect with second-line support teams that work on RevMan Web, Editorial Manager, and other Cochrane systems.

In addition to providing answers related to Cochrane’s technical systems, Cochrane Support also help users with challenges logging in to their Cochrane accounts and answer queries related to governance, elections, Cochrane membership, conflict of interest policies and procedures, and more!

We welcome queries in any language, and our international team can respond to you in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Our Community says...

Don't hesitate to reach out to Cochrane Support; we are always happy to help. 

• support@cochrane.org

Cochrane is proud to recognize the extraordinary contributions of individuals who make an exceptional, long-standing contribution to Cochrane’s work and leadership with lifetime and emeritus membership. 

Cochrane's strength is in its collaborative, global community. Our 100,000+ members and supporters from more than 130 countries work together to produce credible, accessible health information and help inform health decision making. Though we are spread out across the globe, our shared passion for health evidence unites us. 

Cochrane’s Membership scheme helps reward everyone who helps provide produce and disseminate Cochrane evidence, as well as provide leadership for our strategic goals. Membership is a valuable addition to résumés, gives you voting rights, and opens opportunities for getting involved in governance and learning opportunities. 

We are proud to recognise extraordinary contributions to Cochrane with Lifetime and Emeritus Memberships. These will be awarded to those who have contributed to Cochrane’s success over many years and are now ending their active time with Cochrane.

Nominate a Cochrane Colleague

Cochrane values diversity and inclusivity, and our Lifetime and Emeritus Members should reflect the rich diversity of our global community. We welcome nominations for individuals of various geographical locations and genders, and particularly endorse a balanced representation from all around the world. 

If you know a Cochrane Colleague who has made an exceptional long-standing commitment to Cochrane’s work but is now ending their active time with Cochrane, we invite you to make a nomination. 

Nominations will be collated and then put forward for consideration to the Membership and Awards Committee of the Governing Board. 

• Submit a nomination - open until 30 April 2024
• See full criteria for awards
• See the current list of Lifetime and Emeritus inductees
• Learn more about Cochrane Membership
   

Are you interested in joining the Governing Board?

Two elected members of the Governing Board (Juan Franco and Tamara Kredo) come to the end of their first term of appointment this year and so elections will be held. Candidates must be a Cochrane Member as of 15 November 2023 to be eligible to stand in this election, membership is defined as having accepted the Terms & Conditions of Cochrane Membership. You can check your membership status here.    

The Cochrane Collaboration is a charity, registered with the Charity Commission (which regulates charities in England and Wales). Members of the Governing Board are the charity’s Trustees and Directors of the charitable company. Trustees are legally responsibility for the organization’s management and administration.  

This year the Board is looking for candidates who can demonstrate skills and experience in one or more of the following areas:  

• Leadership of global and/or complex organizations  
• Making organizations more diverse and equitable  
• Organizational change management  
• Fundraising and business development  
• Advocacy  
• Public relations and communications  
• Financial management and accounting  
• Digital product development  
• Publishing and Open Access  

  
The Board is committed to improving the organizations’ approach to equity, diversity and inclusion. It recognises that having members with a broad mix of skills and knowledge as well as a range of perspectives and lived experiences will help the Board to be innovative, flexible, better able to adapt to a changing environment and address future challenges.  

• Please visit the elections website for more information and to find an Elected Member Candidate Statement template.  
• The deadline for nominations is Friday 24 November 2023 in any time zone.  
• Please get in touch if you have any questions or need any more information - elections@cochrane.org.