The Governing Board met on 25 June 2024. 

Additional resources for the Central Editorial Service 
The Governing Board approved a proposal to add additional resources to the Central Editorial Service. Expanding the team will help to ensure that a healthy pipeline of reviews is maintained, that the author experience is improved through timely review publication or notification of rejection and that staff in the editorial team are not working beyond capacity. 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 
A set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be used to track performance across the organization were approved. They include the percentage of published reviews that respond to global challenges, the number of authors from lower and middle income countries, membership numbers and several measures around increasing and diversifying our income. The first KPI report will be prepared for the Board to review at their meeting in September 2024. 

Scientific Strategy 
The Governing Board approved the Scientific Strategy which has been developed over the last year. A wide consultation exercise included a hybrid meeting in Vienna with about 60 Cochrane leaders and a face-to-face meeting in Geneva with World Health Organization (WHO) collaborators.  

The Scientific Strategy enables delivery of Goal 1 in the Organizational Strategy (producing timely, relevant evidence for and with those who need it most).  

Look out for more information about the launch of the Scientific Strategy. 

Annual Report and Accounts 2023 
The Governing Board approved the Annual Report and Accounts for 2023. When the report has been signed by the auditor and submitted to the Charity Commission it will be published on the Cochrane website. View Trustees’ Annual Reports and Finance Statements from previous years here.  

The accounts will be presented to members at an Annual General Meeting to be held later on in the year. 

Committee meetings 
The Board noted updates from the Governance and Nominations Committee, the Remuneration Committee, the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, the Future of Evidence Oversight Committee and the Product Development Oversight Committee which all met during May or June. 

Future Engagement Mechanism Working Group 
The Working Group that was established to explore existing and new mechanisms for two way communication, engagement and participation between the central organization (the Governing Board and the Central Executive Team) and the Community met again on 12 June 2024. A framework for engagement that proposed a number of different ‘spaces’ for engagement to fulfil different needs was considered.   

The proposal will be worked up further before the Governing Board is asked to approve it in September 2024. 

Next Governing Board meeting 
The Governing Board will meet again face to face in September ahead of the Global Evidence Summit in Prague. 

If you have any questions about the Governing Board do get in touch at governingboardsecretary@cochrane.org