On behalf of everyone within the Cochrane community, we are sad to learn of the death of Professor Doug Altman. Doug was a leading medical statistician and played a foremost role in the development of evidence synthesis methods and reporting, in addition to his substantial role in the origin and later development of the Cochrane Collaboration.

Our thoughts and condolences are with Doug’s family, friends, and colleagues across the world.

Doug Altman was a Cochrane leader and pioneer since the Collaboration’s beginning in 1993. He is best known for his work on improving the reliability and reporting of medical research and for highly cited papers on statistical methodology.

He was Professor of Statistics in medicine at the University of Oxford, UK, since 1998, founder and Director of the Centre for Statistics in Medicine (CSM) and Cancer Research UK Medical Statistics Group and co-founder of the International group for health research reliability, the Equator Network. He was also one of three Editors in Chief of the scientific journal, ‘Trials’.

His varied research passions included the exploration of the use and abuse of statistics in medical research, studies of prognosis, regression modelling, systematic reviews and meta-analysis, randomized trials, and studies of medical measurement.

Doug’s long-serving contributions to Cochrane have been universally acknowledged across the world. He was a long standing co-convenor of Cochrane’s Statistical Methods, and more recently co-convened both the Cochrane Bias and Cochrane Prognosis Methods; he authored over 450 papers in statistical methodology, with 11 being cited more than 1,000 times.

In Doug’s own words, “My first exposure to meta-analysis was reading publications by Richard Peto and others around 1980. It seemed so obviously the right thing to do when there were multiple studies, and it seemed statistically fairly straightforward. Like so many things, the principles are indeed simple, but realization that the practice is not so simple arrives gradually” (Chandler J, Clarke M, McKenzie J, Boutron I, Welch V. (editors) Cochrane Methods. Cochrane DB Syst Rev 2013 Suppl 1:2).

Hearing the loss of a widely-respected Cochrane friend, Editor in Chief, David Tovey said: “Doug was one of the most revered of Cochrane’s leaders, but he was also immensely approachable, warm and engaging. His contribution to Cochrane and to the science of research reporting were immense, and characterized by this affability, linked to a steely determination to improve the quality of published research.”

Doug’s colleagues across Cochrane plan to commemorate his contribution to evidence-based medicine in various ways over the coming weeks and months.

If friends and contributors would like express condolences, recount memories, and share photographs please contribute the to 'Book of Memories'.

• Read the post on Cochrane Methods
• Douglas G Altman: statistician, researcher, and driving force behind global initiatives to improve the reliability of health research on The BMJ

 

 

Cochrane contributors connect with audiences through social media, symposia, webinars, websites, newsletters, podcasts, blogshots, videos, and much more. We want to better understand your experiences and opinions of existing products and activities that you and/or your Group uses.

Cochrane's Knowledge Translation (KT) Framework is guiding the work of a range of activities, aimed at ensuring Cochrane's Reviews are relevant, respond to the needs of our stakeholders, and are presented in a format that facilitates the use of evidence. 

As a Cochrane contributor, we know you use all kinds of products on different platforms, to exchange ideas, share information, and disseminate health evidence - whatever your language, location or setting.

We would like to learn from your experiences in order to get a clear and comprehensive picture of what products and activities you currently use and your experiences. We also want to hear about new and expanded initiatives you think have potential to help us reach and engage with our diverse audiences. Please take 20 minutes of your time to complete a survey on your experiences and activities before 20 July 2018 - this information will help share future Cochrane products and activities.

Many thanks, and we look forward to hearing from you,

The KT 'Improving and Upscaling Products' Group.
 

Cochrane Training is pleased to announce that we have re-launched training.cochrane.org with a new design – making the learning resources you need easier to find and use.

The redesigned site gives learners a clearer interface to access diverse learning opportunities. All resources are available through the search bar, as well as through our curated collections built around themes or topics. For example, new authors can check out our ‘Review author starter kit’ or those with an interest in GRADE approach now have access to a whole host of learning material gathered in one place.

The redesign also highlights the numerous different ways that you can learn with Cochrane -  online courses, brief individual learning modules, webinars, or searching our database of upcoming workshops and events.

You’ll also be able to find out about latest updates, upcoming learning events, and our newest resources straight from the website home page through our Training news and updates.

Most resources are available free of charge to everyone, and if you are a Cochrane author, trainer or group staff member then everything is available free of charge.

The Cochrane Training website is maintained by Membership, Learning and Support Services of the Cochrane Central Executive. We hope you take a few minutes to have a look around our new website at http://training.cochrane.org. The website will continue to evolve over the coming months and your feedback is gratefully received at training@cochrane.org.

Cochrane Crowd, Cochrane’s citizen science platform, reached 2 million individual classifications on Tuesday 15th of May at 5.20pm UTC + 1, one day after the platform’s 2nd birthday!

In the lead up to the milestone Crowd ran the #Crowd2million campaign and around 100 people got involved, sharing screenshots and supporting this community to reach our goal. Read on for the campaign wrap up, prize winner announcements and news of an unexpected campaign outcome.

Don’t know about Cochrane Crowd? Before reading on, you might like to watch this 2-minute introduction or register for our next webinar, Monday 11 June 4-5pm PDT.

This community does it again. Seriously, is anyone surprised?

 

We launched the #Crowd2million #ShowUsYourScreen campaign on the 3rd of May and just 12 days later we cracked 2 million!

How many animals were involved? What a question to ask. Well, if Twitter is anything to go by, at least two cats and one hare. Click the image below for the story of #Crowd2million, from the announcement, through to airport departure screening, the aforementioned cats and hare, Anna’s jitters in the final countdown, to the big moment and beyond.

Crowd 2 million prize winners

Congratulations to the ten #ShowUsYourScreen-ers who won prizes for capturing screenshots closest to 2 million and sharing them over Twitter. They are Paul Manson, Lara Killian, Danial Sayyad, Riccardo Guarise, Richard James, Rachel Playforth, Yudi Hardianto, Hebatullah Abdulazeem, Cindy Beverly and Patricia Dwyer-Hallquist. Signed copies of Iain Chalmers’ book Testing Treatments are winging their way to prize winners as I type.

Thank you to these ten superstars, and to everyone who joined us for #Crowd2million #ShowUsYourScreen!

An unexpected outcome of Crowd 2 million

For the last few months Cochrane Crowd has been steadily working its way through a hefty backlog of ClinicalTrials.gov records. ClinicalTrials.gov is the world’s largest trial registry and as such is a rich source of ongoing (and completed but not published) randomised trials. There were about 100,000 trial registry records to assess, and as we crossed the 2 million classifications mark, this backlog was finally cleared resulting in more than 64,000 trials having been identified by the Crowd. Amazing work by an amazing community!

• Sign up to Cochrane Crowd
• Follow us on Twitter
• Contact us at crowd@cochrane.org.

_{Support for Project Transform was provided by Cochrane and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (APP1114605). The contents of the published material are solely the responsibility of the Administering Institution, a Participating Institution or individual authors and do not reflect the views of the NHMRC.}

Nominations are now open for Co-Chair of the Cochrane Governing Board.
The deadline for receiving nominations is the end of the day on Sunday 27 May 2018 in any timezone.

The Board has two Co-Chairs, to share workload, utilize complementary skills and experience, and permit continuity through the Co-Chairs stepping down at different times. The new Co-Chair will work alongside current Co-Chair Martin Burton and replace Cindy Farquhar, who is retiring as Co-Chair after four years of outstanding service.

The Co-Chairs are accountable to the Board, and to the members of the organization. They are expected to have leadership skills, to be fully consultative, to have vision, to be adept at dealing with people, to be able to solve problems and resolve conflicts effectively, to communicate well, and to be able to represent Cochrane in a variety of different settings.  

Members of the Governing Board have responsibilities both as trustees under UK charity law and as directors under UK company law. All Board members must adhere to the Governing Board Charter and agree to the Code of Conduct.

Eligibility

The Articles of Association (Section 18) give the Board powers to appoint Co-Chairs under the terms they determine, provided that at least one is a member of Cochrane.

Currently, the Board has determined that anyone who holds, or has held, a leadership position within Cochrane is eligible to apply for the position of Co-Chair. Experience of membership of the Board is advantageous but not essential.

Responsibilities

Co-Chairs agree upon an appropriate division of responsibilities, which include:

• Chairing Board meetings and various Board sub-committees;
• Chairing Cochrane’s Annual General Meeting;
• Facilitating strategic planning by the Board;
• Advising and guiding the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Editor in Chief and the Central Executive Team in working towards delivery of Cochrane’s strategy;
• Serving as official spokesperson(s) for Cochrane and the Board, with the authority to delegate this responsibility to others;
• Responding to issues raised by members of the organization, outside the remits of the CEO and the Editor in Chief;
• Pursuing those initiatives and projects agreed by the Board to be the responsibility of the Co-Chairs;
• Conducting the performance appraisal of the CEO.

Time commitment

There is a need for a minimum of eight hours per week for the Co-Chairs combined, but with an expectation that a combined total of up to thirty hours per week might sometimes be needed (not including the full-time requirements at the times of the two face-to-face Board meetings per year).

This year, the new Co-Chair must be available to travel to Edinburgh, UK, for the Board’s meeting 13-15 September 2018, and stay on to attend the Colloquium, 16-18 September 2018.

Term of office

The Co-Chairs hold office for two years. They may continue to hold office for a further two-year term with the approval of the Board.  After completing two terms, an individual may not stand again until after a break of three years, after which they are eligible to stand as a member of the Board, but not to stand again as a Co-Chair.

How to nominate

Candidates standing for appointment must submit their nomination by email to elections@cochrane.org, by the deadline of the end of the day on Sunday 27 May 2018 in any timezone. 

The Board appoints the Co-Chairs. Candidates should be nominated by three members of Cochrane as defined by the Membership Terms & Conditions, including a current member of the Board. Current Board members may only nominate one candidate each.

Candidates must include:

1. A completed Co-Chair Candidate Statement, which includes a declaration of conflicts of interest (including direct and indirect conflicts, and professional relationships to other members of the Board, and other boards they may sit on).
2. Letters of Support from three Cochrane members acting as 'nominators' for the candidate, including one current member of the Board, supplying the following information:
   1. Name and role in Cochrane of the person writing the Letter of Support.
   2. Statement about the capacity in which they know the nominee, why they consider the nominee to be an appropriate candidate in the light of the Co-Chair job description as set out in this policy and the extent to which they think the nominee has the necessary attributes.

The Co-Chair Candidate Statement of the successful applicant (i.e. the new Co-Chair) will be published on the Cochrane Community website and will remain on the website against the name of the Co-Chair for the duration of their term on the Board.  For this reason, the Co-Chair Candidate Statement document template must be used; and full addresses, email addresses and/or unencrypted e-signatures excluded. Photographs (including personal headshots) are also not permitted.

Where an individual is selected as Co-Chair but is not a member of the Board, they are an appointed member of the Board (under Article 15.2 of the Articles of Association) and count as such in determining the proportion of elected and appointed members. This appointment must be approved at the next Annual General Meeting. The term of a newly appointed Co-Chair will begin at the following face-to-face meeting of the Board.

For more information, please refer to the Board electoral and appointment procedure on the Cochrane Community website or contact Lucie Binder, Senior Advisor to the CEO (Governance & Management) at elections@cochrane.org.

Important dates

Nominations open	Friday 11 May 2018
Deadline for nominations	Sunday 27 May 2018
Board decision (via teleconference)	Wednesday 13 June 2018
Results announced	From Thursday 14 June 2018

Cochrane Malaysia is pleased to announce the list of names of recipients of a certificate of recognition for Malay translations completed between January and  December 2017

The year 2017, 2 years after its launch in 2015, was very meaningful for Cochrane Malay Translation. In 2017, we reached a milestone by publishing the 1000th Malay PLS which marked the acceleration in our production rate. Our Malay pages in Cochrane.org received over 5000 views in December 2017, which was 4 times that in January 2016. These made us one of the fastest growing Cochrane translation initiatives.

These would have been impossible without the generous help of our translators and editors who are working on voluntary basis. Our volunteers are all healthcare students or practitioners and come from over 10 institutions in Malaysia and abroad.

To thank volunteers for their work, we issue certificates of recognition to reward translators and editors on an annual basis. This is the second year of the award. In 2016, we had the modest number of just five recipients. This year we have a more glamorous number of 19 recipients. Four of the five recipients from 2016 again receive the certificate of recognition for 2017. 

What are the criteria for receiving a certificate?

There are 3 categories of recognition with editors and translators receiving separate recognition:

• Bronze award for completing or editing 20 translations in a year
• Silver award for completing or editing 35 translations in a year
• Gold  award  for completing or editing 50 translations in a year

Who are the recipients of certificates for 2017?

They come from various medical and health institutions and universities in Malaysia and abroad. They are students, nurses, medical experts and other healthcare professionals who have generously contributed their precious time for this work. The translators and editors shared their thoughts on getting involved with Malay translation.

 “Our translators thank us for the opportunity but we truly want to thank our translators!” 

Gold translators

1. Wong Chun Hoong, Pharmacy graduate, International Medical University (469PLS)
“It is gratifying to translate Plain Language Summary as I can learn much recent medical information. I hope to read more and share with those concerned about their own health in a language that can easily be comprehended”. 

2. Khaw Loke Tim, Immunologist-Division of Pathology, International Medical University (73PLS)
“I just started translating in 2017, as I believe knowledge should transcend any barriers, especially language”.

3. Professor Dr Noorliza Mastura Ismail, Professor of Dentistry at Melaka Manipal Medical College (73 PLS)                                                                                                          
She describes Cochrane translation work as “invigorating.”    

                                    

4. Noor Salwah S Omar, Science Officer at the Research & Innovation Unit, School of Dental Sciences, USM (55 PLS)
“I've been a translator since a few years back but only actively involved recently. I do it because I would like the Malay community who cannot converse or read English to be able to share the current medical knowledge related to the treatment of various diseases. "Sharing is Caring". Cheers to everyone”.

5. Ng Chia Shyn, Pharmacy student, International Medical University (50 PLS)
“I joined this translation project because I want to develop a habit of lifelong learning and also to improve my proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia. As a future healthcare professional, I want to help in the spreading of health-related information and knowledge to the public."

 

Bronze translators

1. Assoc Prof Irfan Mohamad, Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery,Universiti Sains Malaysia (32 PLS)
“I have been involved in Cochrane translation since early 2017. Since then, I have translated more than 20 titles , with the aim to help to disseminate knowledge among Malay-speaking groups. Clinically, I underwent training in Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery field and the articles translated are many from the specialty-related field”.

 

2. Teoh Ru Jian, Jonathan, Medical graduate, Penang Medical College
“I have been a Cochrane translator since being a medical student in Penang Medical College (PMC). Currently I am pursuing further studies specifically on systematic review and meta-analysis. Thank you for the support from PMC throughout these years!”.

3. Julie Yeo Hsiao Hui, Medical student, Taylor's University, Malaysia (24 PLS)
“I enjoyed doing the translation and it provided me opportunities to learn”.                                                                       

 

4. Lee Pei Yee, Pharmacy student, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University (23 PLS)
“Its my honour to join as a volunteer translator for Cochrane because it is well known in providing reliable evidence based information to people all over the world. I hope to share the information in Bahasa Malaysia so that the Malay speaking community can access to the data easily and thus improve our healthcare system together”.

5. James Tan Wing, Final-year student at Melaka Manipal Medical College (21 PLS)
“I am interested in research. Following the recommendation of my Dean, Dr Adinegara Lutfi Abas, I have involved myself in Cochrane translations to improve my resume and help people in this region appreciate high-quality scientific evidence. The initial experience was different from what I've been used to, but after translating a few articles, things did get easier”.

 

Gold editors

1. Assoc Prof Tuan Hairulnizam , Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia (320 PLS) 
“I teach Emergency Medicine at School of Medical Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia. I find great gratification in translating the Plain Language Summary since i know this way a lot of people can benefit from scientific researches around the world”.

2. Professor Dr Noorliza Mastura Ismail, Professor of Dentistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College (289 PLS)
Professor Noorliza is also a recipient of Gold translator award. She shared her thoughts in the Gold translator section of this announcement.

3. Dr. Tan May Loong, Paediatrician and Senior Lecturer, Penang Medical College (55 PLS)
“I have been doing editing of translations for over 2 years - it started with just plain language summaries but now expanded to podcasts, featured reviews and blogshots. I am very happy to see Cochrane evidence in Malay where it can reach so many of my people who do not read English.”

4. Associate Professor Dr. Norhayati Mohd Noor Public Health Physician (Family Health), School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia  (52 PLS)
“I teach family health, medical biostatistics and research methodology. I handle qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research. My particular interests include maternal and perinatal health, adolescent health and traditional and complementary medicine”.

5. Dr. Mohd. Shaharudin Shah Che Hamzah, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia (50PLS)
“Hi, I started being involved with translating and editoring a couple of years ago. I am a lecturer in USM and majoring in pre hospital care and disaster... my interest is in public engagement especially in relation of disaster management”.

Bronze editors

1. Dr Rosnani Zakaria, Department of Family Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia (33 PLS)
“Translation of information and advice from Malay to English and vice versa is an everyday routine for us , Family Medicine Specialist and most of other health professionals, so to do it in writing is another way of sharing knowledge with the community and I enjoyed doing it. Thank you Cochrane for the opportunity given.”

2.  Dr Sharifah Halimah Jaafar Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Regency Specialist Hospital ,Johor. (31PLS)
“I am a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, currently working in Regency Specialist Hospital in Johor. I am also a Cochrane author in Pregnancy & Childbirth Group. I started being editor after being introduced by Prof Jackie Ho to Dr Teguh”.

3. Prof Lai Nai Ming, Professor of Paediatrics, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences,Taylor's University, Malaysia (28 PLS)
“I have been involved in the Cochrane Malay Translation Initiative as an editor, having editted over 30 Cochrane plain language summaries and 25,500 words since 2013. It gives me enourmous pleasure and sense of purpose in editing the translation, as I witnessed the efforts of the translators in trying to make complicated terms and concepts clear to lay readers. It is exciting to be part of this very meaningful initiative in making Cochrane accessible by every person in the society in Malaysia”.                                                                            

                                                                                                         

4. Chan Mei Wai, Family Physician, Department of Family Medicine, Penang Medical College (24 PLS) 
“I've been an editor since a year ago. I enjoy the work and hope can continue contribute to it”.

5. Dr Ahmad Filza Ismail, Department of Communty Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia (22 PLS)
“I was introduced to Cochrane Malay translation project in 2016. As a medical graduate from a non-English speakingcountry, I enjoyed a lot doing the translation from English to Malay and vice-versa. Since I am a Public Health Specialist, reading and translating articles on epidemiology and preventive medicine at the same time adding new knowledge to me. Looking forward to contributing more in coming years.”

 

Congradulations and a  warm thank you to all our translators!

Vivli is a non-profit organization establishing a global data-sharing and analytics platform to serve all elements of the international research community.

It’s launched its public test site, a new clinical research data sharing platform, and now invites collaborators across Cochrane’s community to try it out and tell them what they think!

You can access the app at https://app.vivli.org and learn more about the Vivli organization itself and access resources of how to use the platform at http://vivli.org

Vivli offers users a novel way to search, aggregate, and analyze data from clinical trials. In the public beta, users can explore the search functionality of the Vivli platform, exploring more than 600 clinical trials listed on the beta site. Once the platform launches in mid-July, researchers can search for studies and request anonymized individual patient data (IPD) from these studies to analyze in a secure environment and store their results (with a minted DOI to help meet ICJME requirements). All this functionality will be available from full launch on July 19 2018.

 “Vivli’s intuitive search interface allows users to refine their search and only request the studies that they need to answer important research questions,” said Dr. Ida Sim, Vivli’s Technical Lead. “This will hopefully accelerate the research process to drive forward scientific discovery.”

Vivli’s Director of Strategy and Operations, Julie Wood said: “Vivli hopes that the platform will make it easier for Cochrane contributors to access clinical trial data through its harmonized request process. Cochrane contributers are a core constituency of the Vivli platform - both in development and moving forward. We look forward to integrating your valuable feedback as we seek to continually improve the platform and ensure that it meets your needs.”

Find out more and let us know what you think.

• Try the Beta Vivli app
• Watch the demo video
• Learn more about Vivli

Cochrane is proud to announce its newest Affiliate Centre, Cochrane Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cochrane Bosnia and Herzegovina will be located at the University of Mostar School of Medicine in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in South-Eastern Europe with a population of 3 791 622 people.

Cochrane Bosnia and Herzegovina is an Affiliate of Cochrane Croatia; therefore, it will be co-ordinated and led by Cochrane Croatia who will offer methodological support, mentoring, and supervision.

• Read the full Press Release on Cochrane.org
• Visit the Cochrane Bosnia and Herzegovina website

Submit your meeting request here (login required)

The purpose of Colloquium meetings is to give sufficient time for the Cochrane community and others to hold business meetings during the Colloquium. Priority will be given to internal Cochrane priority projects, executives and groups. There are several dedicated meeting slots in the programme. These slots are the optimal times for obtaining available meeting rooms:

• Sunday 16 September, 7.30-8.45am
• Sunday 16 September, 1-1.45pm
• Monday 17 September, 7.30-8.45am
• Monday 17 September, 1-1.45pm
• Tuesday 18 September, 7.30-8.45am
• Tuesday 18 September, 1-1.45pm

As meeting requests are submitted and processed, they will be published on the meeting list. When planning your meeting, please refer to the programme overview and the meeting list to avoid conflicts.

The deadline for meeting requests is 3 August 2018.

Colloquium delegates will be able to sign-up for meetings from the 22 August 2018, when the sign-up and schedule launches.

Cochrane-REWARD prize for reducing waste in research - submissions open until 15 May.

The annual Cochrane-REWARD prize gathers, assesses, and then publicizes good local or pilot initiatives that have the most potential to reduce waste in research if scaled up globally. Two prizes are awarded annually, but other shortlisted candidate will also be highlighted.

The Cochrane-REWARD prize will highlight both underused "remedies" and the need to invest in research to identify problems and solutions to them. Cochrane is now calling for nominations for the 2018 prize - submissions close 15 May 2018. Two prizes will be awarded (a 1^st prize of £1500 and a 2^nd prize of £1000), but other shortlisted candidates will also be highlighted to help disseminate good ideas. The winners of the 2018 prize will be announced at the Cochrane Colloquium, Edinburgh, 16-18 September, 2018.

• See Cochrane.org for more details and how to submit.