Key points:

• The MECIR Standards represent a true collaborative effort across our community.
• They are an essential part of Cochrane’s quality assurance strategy.
• The MECIR Standards represent a living programme of work and will be adapted over time as methods and expectations change.

Ensuring that Cochrane Reviews represent the highest possible quality is critical if they are to inform decision making in clinical practice and health policy. Methodological Expectations of Cochrane Intervention Reviews (MECIR) are Standards that should guide the conduct and reporting of Cochrane Intervention Reviews. They are drawn from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (the ‘Handbook’). The development of the Standards has been a collaborative effort over several years, involving review authors, editors and methodologists from all corners of our community. In this document we present a complete set of Standards for intervention reviews.