Welcome to the homepage of Cochrane’s Central Editorial Service
The Central Editorial Service is based within the Evidence Production and Methods Directorate of Cochrane’s Central Executive Team.
Cochrane’s Central Editorial Service is the ‘journal branch’ of Cochrane. Our role is to evaluate and peer review content submitted for publication on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. The editorial process that we use to evaluate content is covered in detail here.
As part of our editorial process we ensure that Cochrane’s methodological quality standards are adhered to, and ensure compliance with Cochrane’s policies, including our conflict of interest, authorship, rejection and appeals policies.
We aim to share our acceptance and rejection rates here in due course. Please contact us in the meantime if you require further information.
Editorial independence
In order to maintain editorial independence, the Central Editorial Service does not have any part in pre-submission tasks; we cannot support authors with submitting proposals or writing manuscripts, or respond to methods queries. If you require support as you complete your protocol, review or update, Cochrane offers flexible distance learning for authors including online workshops. You can also submit a question to one of our monthly Methods Support web clinics. Our good practice resources for Cochrane authors provides guidance on Cochrane’s reference sources and standards, tools and software.
For any queries related to methods, information specialist support or technical issues that cannot be answered using the above resources, please contact your Cochrane Review Group. If your Cochrane Review Group has closed due to the recent changes in funding, please contact Cochrane Support on Support@cochrane.org.
Changes to how Cochrane’s editorial process is managed
Cochrane has embarked on an important change programme to transform the way we produce high-quality, independent and timely evidence. This means that soon the editorial process for all submissions of completed protocols, reviews and updates will be managed centrally by the Central Editorial Service. This is a gradual process of change: from April 2023 all submissions within the scope of UK-based Cochrane Review Groups will be managed centrally, followed by all reviews submitted to the CDSR from the beginning of 2024.
