Following consultations with all Cochrane Reviews Groups (CRGs) within the network, the ‘Long-Term Conditions and Ageing 2’ Network are pleased to announce that they have changed their name to the ‘Musculoskeletal, Oral Skin and Sensory’ (MOSS) Network. 

This consultation process started with a face-to-face network meeting in September 2019 at the colloquium in Edinburgh, where various alternatives to ‘Long-Term Conditions and Ageing 2’ were suggested and noted within the minutes of the meeting.

Following this a short survey was circulated in October for three weeks, listing the suggestions where members ranked the options from 1 (favourite) to 5 (least favourite), with reminders for participation sent to ensure the views of all members.

By November, the most popular name emerged as ‘Skin, Sensory and Musculoskeletal’ though it was noted that it and other suggestions did not reflect all included CRGs. The Network team therefore deliberated and added ‘oral’  and rearranged the name to ‘Musculoskeletal, Oral, Skin and Sensory’ to create the acronym ‘MOSS’ which was again circulated to all members of the network and adopted on the 30th of November 2019. 

• View the new Musculoskeletal, Oral Skin and Sensory’ (MOSS) Network website. 

Knowledge Translation in Cochrane is delighted to share this request for proposal for the project to agree a set of ‘principles for dissemination’ and to develop practical tools in order to improve the quality of Cochrane’s dissemination products.

This new and exciting opportunity is a commissioned piece of work open to the Cochrane community and will involve working with the Knowledge Translation (KT) ‘Improving and Upscaling KT products’ Working Group and our KT Advisory Group.

The deadline is Friday 18th January 2019, 17:00 GMT. For further information or any questions please contact support@cochrane.org.

• Review the request for proposal
• Find out more information about KT in Cochrane

After leading Cochrane Netherlands for 17 years, Professor Rob Scholten has stepped down as its Director.

Since taking on leadership of the Dutch Cochrane Centre in 2001 (first being based at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, and from 2014 at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care in Utrecht), Rob has authored many Cochrane reviews and has been enormously successful in developing Cochrane’s work in the Netherlands, collaborating with various national and international researchers. The Centre now provides training in systematic reviews and evidence-informed medicine at the Utrecht Medical Center and to other stakeholders in collaboration with a range of partner organizations, including the World Health Organization.

Rob also developed partnerships with a range of partners and contributed to committees of organisations of relevance to evidence-based health care in the Netherlands, including ZonMW (the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development), the Gezondheidsraad (Health Council of the Netherlands) and the Zorginstituut (National Health Care Institute). In addition, over many years, Cochrane Netherlands has contributed short summaries of Cochrane systematic reviews to the NTvG (the Dutch Journal of Medicine).

As part of the international Cochrane community, Rob played an important role in the work on Diagnostic Test Accuracy (DTA) reviews. He still is a member of the Cochrane DTA Editorial Team, and contributes substantially to the work on the Cochrane DTA Handbook. He was also a member of the Cochrane Steering Group (from 2004 to 2007) representing Centre Directors; and he has contributed to many Centre Director meetings. Furthermore, since 2004, Cochrane Netherlands has played host to the Netherlands Trial Register, which is an WHO approved primary register.

Rob continues to be passionate about evidence-based research that develops and refines methods for systematic reviews and meta-analysis; selective publication and selective outcome reporting; and methods to improve the interpretation and presentation of systematic review results. For all Dutch speaking people, Rob is remembered as the driving force behind the ‘Dutch borrel’ during the annual Cochrane Colloquia with all Dutch speaking Cochranites!

Cochrane’s Chief Executive Officer, Mark Wilson, said: ‘I would sincerely like to thank Rob for his outstanding contributions to Cochrane’s work over the last two decades. Cochrane Netherlands was one of the first Cochrane Centres to be established in 1994, and under Rob’s leadership its impact in improving research methodologies, developing deep international partnerships with international organisations, combined with their continued development of Cochrane authors, has been formidable. The work of Rob and his team over the last 17 years has expanded the scope, reach, and impact of Cochrane activities on health and healthcare decision making across the world. And all of this has been achieved with a graciousness, generosity of spirit, conscientiousness and dry humour that has made Rob a beloved Cochrane collaborator to so many of us. On behalf of all of your Cochrane colleagues and friends, we thank you, Rob, and wish you every success and happiness for the future.”

Cochrane Netherlands will be led under the new Directorship of Dr. Lotty Hooft. Lotty is Associate professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Julius Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, and has supported Rob as deputy Director of Cochrane Netherlands since 2013 and as Co-Director from October 2016.

• Visit the Cochrane Netherlands website

The Cochrane Council, the representative body for Cochrane Group staff and authors, recently submitted a report to the Governing Board on issues arising from the termination of Professor Peter Gøtzsche’s membership of Cochrane.

You can read this report, here, and the Board’s response, here.

Following on from this correspondence, the Board Co-Chairs, Marguerite Koster and Martin Burton; and the Council Co-Chairs, Miranda Langendam and Fergus Macbeth, are pleased to make the following statement about priorities for Cochrane over the next few months:

Joint Message from the four Co-Chairs 11 December 2018

As the four Co-Chairs, of the Council and of the Governing Board, we have worked together to identify three pieces of work that we believe should be a priority in the next few weeks and months. We took into consideration the input we have received from a wide range of Cochrane members and Groups. These pieces of work have been considered and agreed by the members of the Council and the Board and the work will begin immediately, supported by members of the Central Executive Team.

1. Encouraging wider participation. The Council will work to develop an online forum in which members can debate and discuss any Cochrane-related issues of interest or relevance to them. This specific activity will be undertaken in the context of a broader piece of work, extending over a longer time period, to encourage wider participation by Cochrane members.
   Cochrane is a diverse community and we know that not all members will want to use an online discussion forum. Consequently, we believe it is important for the Council to investigate the need for, and suitability of, other strategies to promote member engagement and participation.
2. "Code of Conduct" for Members of Cochrane. The Council will develop a “Code of Conduct” for consideration by the Board. It will clearly define the types of behaviour which are and are not acceptable within the organization. In particular, the code will deal with bullying, harassment, intimidation, retaliation and discrimination.
   The Board has encouraged the Council to take into account the existing “Code of Conduct for Trustees”. We know there are well-established definitions of various types of behaviour; we hope these will be used, and that the Code will give examples of them. We all believe that it would also be helpful to consider the “codes of conduct” already adopted by the various organizations which employ us, as well as examples from charities that have volunteer members.
3. Procedures for dealing with alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct. For some time, the Board has had a Complaints Procedure Working Group. This group developed a draft Complaints Policy and set of procedures, which was reviewed and revised based on input from the Council. We have now agreed that a group of Council members will join a Joint Board-Council Working Group to determine the processes to be followed when an individual is alleged to have breached the Code of Conduct for Members of Cochrane.
   Specific attention will be paid to fairness, equity, and the balance between an individual’s rights to privacy and the need for transparency.
   The Board wants to be able to approve, as soon as possible, a comprehensive procedure or set of procedures that will cover not only complaints about the behaviour of individual members (as discussed above) but will also cover complaints about decisions and actions that people take in their Cochrane roles. We already have procedures in place that cover employees and some that cover decisions made by the Editor-in-Chief.

We are grateful to have received the wide variety of views, concerns and suggestions of Cochrane members in recent weeks and months. We look forward to working collaboratively to advance Cochrane’s principles, in particular those of openness, transparency, respect and support for one another.

Dear Cochrane Members,

Thank you for voting in the recent election for new members of the Cochrane Governing Board. Over 1200 people voted and over 4000 votes were cast.

We’re delighted to announce that the following four candidates have been elected:

• Xavier BONFILL
• Sally GREEN
• Karsten Juhl JØRGENSEN
• Jordi PARDO PARDO

Thank you to all the candidates who stood in this election, your contributions and willingness to serve Cochrane in this way are greatly appreciated. The full vote count is available on elections.cochrane.org. Learn more about the Governing Board on the Cochrane Community website. Questions about any aspects of the elections process can be raised with Lucie Binder, Senior Advisor to the CEO (Governance & Management) and Electoral Officer for this election.

The agenda and open access papers for the Cochrane Governing Board teleconference on 10 December 2018 are now available to view online, for information only.

Cochrane's governing body is the Governing Board. The Board is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of Cochrane’s strategic direction. If you would like to comment on an item you can contact the Board: support@cochrane.org.

Dear Cochrane Members,
 
Almost 1,100 votes have been cast so far, but if you haven’t voted yet, you’re still able to do so until next Monday, 10 December 2018, at 12:00 GMT.

With 18 candidates standing for election this year, there’s a lot of information available for you to review before casting your votes. To support your choices, we’ve interviewed the candidates about their motivation to stand for election and their views on Cochrane’s key opportunities and challenges. Visit elections.cochrane.org to read these interviews, view the full Candidate Statements, and cast your votes.

All members as defined by the Membership Terms & Conditions are entitled to vote in this election. To check your membership status, please see https://join.cochrane.org/your-membership. If you know of fellow members who aren’t receiving these emails but want to, you can ask them to check their communications preferences in their Cochrane Account. The Community Support Team will also be happy to assist you by email at support@cochrane.org.

Questions about any aspects of the elections process can be raised with Lucie Binder, Senior Advisor to the CEO (Governance & Management) and Electoral Officer for this election.

The Cochrane Style Manual Working Group have released an updated and revised version of the Cochrane Style Basics. Cochrane Style Basics is in PDF format, so can be sent as an attachment, and includes links out to the Cochrane Style Manual.

Cochrane Style Basics is a collection of 'style essentials' designed to provide Cochrane authors with a useful summary of Cochrane style. We hope this updated resource will be a guide for new authors or as a refresher for more experienced authors and editors. It is especially helpful at at the start of the review stage, when an update is about to start, or when preparing a review for copy-editing.

If you have suggestions for how Style Basics could be improved or how it could be used, please let us know via the Cochrane Style Manual Ideas and Feedback forum.

Cochrane Colloquium, Santiago, Chile 22-25 October 2019

Cochrane Chile is delighted to be hosting the Colloquium next year. It will be a great opportunity to meet and network with the Cochrane community from Chile and Latin America, and to be surprised by the wide usage of Cochrane evidence in decision-making at all levels.

The theme of the next Colloquium is ‘Embracing Diversity’, and there is no better place to experience it. In 2018, Chile was recognized as the best country to visit by the prestigious Lonely planet travel guide. This long and narrow strip of land, isolated from the rest of the world by the soaring Andes to the east, and the vast Pacific Ocean to the west, acts as a catalogue of natural wonders, ranging from the unearthly scenery of the world’s driest desert in the north, to the world’s largest continental ice fields in the south. In between, countless unforgettable locations, including top-of-the-list wine growing regions, the clearest skies in the world, the impenetrable wilderness of Patagonia and the enigmatic Easter island, just to name a few. Chile is nature on a colossal scale, and travel is surprisingly safe and easy.

Accompanying Chile’s diverse geography is it’s multi-ethnic and diverse society. High-tech, early technology adopters, conforming what the media refers to as Chilecon Valley, coexist with writers that make Chile known as a country of poets, and nine indigenous peoples that have preserved their culture as a living heritage.

Registration is scheduled to open in February 2019 and abstract and workshop submission will launch in early January. Visit the website to get the latest information and key dates, with more details to be announced in the coming months.

If you would like to sponsor, exhibit or advertise at the event, find out more in our sponsorship brochure and contact us at colloquium@cochrane.org

Website:  https://colloquium2019.cochrane.org/
Hashtag: #CochraneSantiago

Cochrane reviews should help inform health decision making. As the producers of reviews, we cannot do this on our own. Strategic partnerships, at the organizational, regional, national, network and group levels, are essential. These partnerships can be very diverse, from working with local media or a local community organization, to global and national health policy makers, major research funders, as well as a wide variety of health practitioners.

This video highlights some of our partnerships with Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Health Talk, Choosing Wisely, and Wikipedia. It demonstrates the variety of partners Cochrane engages with to ensure its reviews are relevant and responsive to the needs of users, and help inform health decisions people need to make.

The KT training website includes additional information for partnership development, including a partnership guidance note, case studies, as well as references to other resources that can support each step of a partnership development process.