In May 2019 Cochrane, producer of the Cochrane Library, the world’s pre-eminent collection of high quality evidence to inform healthcare decisions, launched a competitive tender to establish its future publishing partner from 2021 for the following decade.

The tender attracted a wide response, and over the last few months Cochrane has been reviewing shortlisted proposals from suitable partners to decide with whom, and under what terms, our unique and world-renowned product in the health and healthcare sector will be published in the future.

Cochrane’s Governing Board has now agreed on a ‘preferred publisher’, and its Senior Management Team is negotiating with that publisher to try to reach a set of outcomes determined by the Board. A final decision is expected in November 2019.

Cochrane aims to identify a publishing partner who will increase the accessibility, awareness, use and impact of the Cochrane Library, promote greater innovation and the development of other derivative products and services, put Cochrane evidence at the heart of health decision-making globally, whilst also ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the organization.

This competitive tender process is being led by Charlotte Pestridge, Head of Cochrane’s Publishing, Research & Development Department, together with a Project Board drawn from members of Cochrane’s Governing and Editorial Boards as well as its Central Executive Team[1]. The Project Board has been assessing proposals against rigorous criteria in four strategic areas: publishing services, open access, product innovation and financial sustainability.

Cochrane intends to announce its new publishing partner arrangements before the end of the year.  

• For more information on Cochrane’s publishing partnership and the tender process, please contact, Charlotte Pestridge, cpestridge@cochrane.org
• Find out more about Cochrane’s publishing and our health evidence: https://www.cochrane.org/