Study ID or Reference ID

Generally, preferred Cochrane format uses family name of first author and year of publication

Alternatively, if a trial is more widely known by an acronym, authors can use the format 'TRIALNAME YYYY'; use the year of publication of the primary reference for the trial.

Garner 2001

WOMAN 2017

—

Two or more articles from the same author from the same year

Bushell 2000a, Bushell 2000b

Bushell 2000 a, Bushell 2000 b, (space between year and letter)

Bushell 2000, Bushell 2000a, (no letter with year)

Authors

List the first six authors before using 'et al'; precede 'et al' by a comma

Note: when entering authors in the Cochrane Register of Studies (CRS) all authors should be listed when possible.

Smith H, Tavender E, Klaes D, Hinds P, Remmington T, Sparkes V, et al

—

No ‘and’ before the final

Smith H, Tavender E, Klaes D, Hinds P

Smith H, Tavender E, Klaes D, and Hinds P

Authors' names should be written with the family name first, followed by a maximum of two initials. The family name should be followed by one space and a maximum of two initials. There should be no full stops or spaces between initials, though they may be hyphenated where appropriate. Given names should not appear in full, but be restricted to an initial. Authors should be separated by a comma.

It is particularly important to ensure that author data is entered accurately, as the author data is automatically processed by organisations that receive Cochrane content at publication.

Note: see 'Family names' in the section on Names for advice about Dutch and Chinese names, and designations of rank.

English title (journal article)

Sentence case: first letter of the first word in upper case; other words in lower case unless they are proper nouns or require an upper-case letter

If the title includes a colon, the word after the colon should start with a lower-case letter unless it is a proper noun or requires an upper-case letter (e.g. Epidemiology: Scotland a suitable microcosm?).

Do not use italics.

Antibiotics for treating infection

The importance of vitamin A

Implementing GRADE

Vitamin D for preventing cancer: evidence and health beliefs

Staphylococcus aureus infection control in clinics

Antibiotics For Treating Infection

The importance of vitamin a

Implementing Grade

Vitamin D for preventing cancer: Evidence and health beliefs

Staphylococcus aureus infection control in clinics

English title (book or dissertation)

Write in full using title case (i.e. each substantive word starts with an upper-case letter).

Note: titles of book chapters should be written in sentence case (i.e. first letter of the first word in upper case; other words in lower case unless they are proper nouns or require an upper-case letter).

Do not use italics.

Sports Injuries and Their Treatment

Staphylococcus aureus

Sports injuries and their treatment

Staphylococcus aureus

Original title

Include non-English title only if provided by the journal or database

—

—

Journal title

Write in full using title case (i.e. each substantive word starts with an upper-case letter). Follow Style Manual guidance rather than stylings proposed by the journals or its publisher. Select titles from the journal pick list.

Note: enter journal names in regular text in the References section of RevMan 5, as they are italicized automatically when the review is published (however, in the text of the review they should be input in italics).

Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

PLOS One
 

J Pharm Pharmacol

PLOS ONE
PLos One

Do not include 'The' at the start of journal names.

Journal titles sometimes change; use the title current at the time of publication (e.g. British Medical Journal changed to BMJ in 1988, then to The BMJ in 2014, although both BMJ and The BMJ are entered as ‘BMJ’).

Lancet

Journal of Physiology

The Lancet

The Journal of Physiology

For non-English language journal titles, include an English translation in square brackets after the original title only if the translation is provided by the journal or database.

Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi [Chinese Medical Journal]

Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi (Chinese Medical Journal)

Issue number

Complete for all reference types when available.

—

—

Page numbers

See examples.

324-8, 556-60, 1093-8

324-28, 556-560, 1093-1098, and 1093-98

Identifiers

Use of identifiers is optional (they may aid identification of the reference and allow a hyperlink from the reference to the article).

Note: identifiers are not automatically included in the reference field slots provided in RevMan 5. When entering an identifier, authors must click on the ‘Add Identifier’ button below the reference fields input table and select the type of identifier wanted (i.e. MEDLINE, PubMed, Embase, DOI, Central, or Other).

—

—

DOI (type of identifier)

Include where provided

10.1002/14651858.
CD004577.pub2

DOI: 10.1002/14651858.
CD004577.pub2