Dear Cochrane community colleagues,
 
I am writing to inform you that after 14 years working with Cochrane our Head of Learning and Support, Miranda Cumpston, has decided now is the time to pursue new life and career opportunities and sadly will be leaving us at the end of the year.
 
Miranda has led the Learning and Support Department in its current form since 2015, developing a team that now oversees Central Executive leadership and support in the areas of Cochrane’s learning and development activities across the organization. Miranda has been Cochrane’s lead on author training whilst overseeing the launch of Cochrane Training (http://training.cochrane.org) with a suite of fabulous online learning resources and support for Cochrane Editors, Group staff, consumers, methodologists and other contributors.
 
During her many years with Cochrane Miranda has worked with all our contributor Groups on the implementation of new policies, processes, methods and technologies; and more recently has also been heavily involved in Cochrane’s governance reforms, including the establishment of Cochrane’s Governing Board, new electoral processes and related structures. Through her work in these areas she has made a wide-ranging and long-lasting contribution to Cochrane’s present strength and future development, for which we are immensely grateful. We will miss her enormously: not only for her wide-ranging expertise, passionate commitment to Cochrane’s mission, and influential contributions to many Central Executive activities; but also for the kindness, consideration, conscientiousness and good humour which she extended to all her colleagues.
 
Miranda leaves us at the end of December so there is still time and opportunity to thank her for her outstanding service. We will be working together with the Senior Management and Learning & Support teams over the coming weeks to review the current structure and work priorities of Cochrane’s learning and development, methods, user and consumer support; and we will communicate our plans to you before the end of the year.
 
Yours sincerely,

Mark

Mark G. Wilson
Chief Executive Officer

The recordings from this year’s Annual General Meeting are now available! Watch Governing Board Co-Chair Cindy Farquhar; CEO Mark Wilson; Deputy Editor in Chief Karla Soares-Weiser; and Treasurer Martin Burton give their views on Cochrane’s performance in 2017 and plans for the organization’s future.

Cochrane AGM videos: officers’ reports

The AGM also featured a series of videos showing stories from the Cochrane community in 2017.

The 2017 AGM was the first to be held under Cochrane's new Articles of Association, with every member entitled to vote. All resolutions put to the vote were approved and the full breakdown of results is available on the AGM website. Full minutes will be available in due course.

For any questions about the AGM, please contact lmcalley@cochrane.org.

We hope you enjoyed the Global Evidence Summit in Cape Town. Your feedback is important, please fill in our short survey on your experiences of the event here: surveymonkey.com/r/GESummit

The Global Evidence Summit was the first time that Cochrane, The Campbell Collaboration, Guidelines International Network, International Society for Evidence-based Health Care, and Joanna Briggs Institute have joined forces to create this premiere event in evidence-based policy.

A Cochrane.org news piece provides a summary of the highlights from The Global Evidence Summit.

Below are a few highlights that will be of particular interest to the Cochrane Community:

• Decisions from the Cochrane Governing Board meeting.
• Videos from the AGM
• 2017 Cochrane contributor prize and award winners.
• Cochrane Croatia celebrates the GES on Cochrane Croatia.
• The Nordic Cochrane Centre at GES Summit 2017 on Cochrane Nordic.
• Cochrane Austria shares the experience of the GES on Wissen Was Wirkt.
• Thoughts from the Global Evidence Summit on Students 4 Best Evidence blog.
• Professor Martin Burton elected as Co-Chair of the Cochrane Board on Cochrane UK.
• My experience as a PhD student at the Global Evidence Summit 2017 on Cochrane Rehabilitation.
• Cochrane Rehabilitation at the Global Evidence Summit on Cochrane Rehabilitation.
• Global Evidence Summit: Croakey wrap of #GESummit17.
• Announcing Cochrane Colloquium Edinburgh 2018
• Blog post: 'What's it like being on the Governing Board?'
• View and download photos from the Summit:
  • Web-ready photos (small file size): stevenbooth.smugmug.com/Conferences-/GES-2017/GES-web/n-45SCXT/ (these have also been added to the shared CommsNetwork photo folder under 'events')
  • Print-ready photos (large file size): stevenbooth.smugmug.com/Conferences-/GES-2017/GES/n-vH3V9b/

Cochrane is delighted to announce the official launch of Cochrane Africa; a network with a vision to increase the use of best evidence to inform healthcare decision making across the sub-Saharan African continent.

The Africa Network consists of regional centres including its co-ordinating centre at Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, and the establishment of hubs at the University of Calabar, Teaching Hospital, Nigeria, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and Yaoundé University, Cameroon.

• Read the full press release on Cochrane.org
   
• Visit the new Cochrane Africa website

Dear Community colleagues and members,

Your Governing Board met in Cape Town, South Africa, on 10-12 September. We are writing to you at this early stage with information about some of our key decisions. More information will be available in due course (as will the full open access minutes) but if you have any questions about these decisions, please contact one of us, any member of the Board, or Lucie Binder in the CEO's office.

We are pleased to report that the Board approved:

• The Structure and Function of Cochrane Review Groups: Implementation of the Networks and Editorial Board Plan. More information on this will be announced in the coming weeks.
• The CRG Transformation Programme Implementation budget.
• The CRG Transformation Programme appeals procedure set out in the paper, “Process for an appeal against the Editor in Chief’s decision during the Structure & Function Review CRG Transformation Programme”, with modification to paragraphs 10 (a) changing 14 days to 30 days, and 10 (b) 30 days to 60 days.
• Cochrane’s Knowledge Translation (KT) Implementation Plan.  As next steps, the Central Executive will further develop the implementation plan for 2018-2019 focusing on a prioritized 10 (out of 17) work-packages outlined in the KT Framework, working together with the KT Advisory Group.
• The hosting of the Colloquium 2020 in Toronto, Canada, by Cochrane Canada; and the hosting of the Governance Meetings in April 2019 in Krakow, Poland by Cochrane Poland.
• The establishment of two new Cochrane Centres in Argentina and Chile.
• The Cochrane Neonatal Review Group application for Strategic Development Support .
• The Cochrane Lung Cancer Review Group application for Strategic Development Support.
• The appointment of Marguerite Koster as Treasurer of the Cochrane Governing Board.
• The appointment of Gerald Gartlehner as Cochrane Governing Board Representative on the Cochrane Innovations Board.
• And, finally, the Senior Management Team’s proposed Strategy to 2020 priorities for 2018, to guide development of the 2018 Plan & Budget (which will be considered and approved by the Board in December). These are:

1. Successful implementation of the Cochrane Review Group Transformation Programme.
2. Establishing a Cochrane content strategy and improved product development processes.
3. Work to develop Cochrane’s sustainable business model, based on increased subscriptions to the Cochrane Library, and plans made for re-alignment of the Central Executive Team accordingly.
4. Development, expansion, and implementation of Cochrane’s Knowledge Translation initiative across the organization in a sustainable way.
   
   More information on these priorities will follow in due course.

The Agenda and open access papers are available here on the Community site. The full Minutes will be available soon.

The next Governing Board face-to-face meeting will be during Cochrane’s Governance Meeting, 19 -23 March 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

With our best wishes,

Cindy Farquhar and Martin Burton

Cochrane Co-Chairs

13 September 2017

Hot off the press and hot on the tail of the publication of Cochrane’s first living systematic reviews on the Cochrane Library, the LSR Network is pleased to announce that it has published a series of four articles in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, along with a commentary by Alex Sutton.

Here’s a brief overview of each of the articles:

Living Systematic Reviews: 1. Introduction - the Why, What, When and How (Julian Elliott et al)

Systematic reviews are difficult to keep up to date, and failure to do so leads to a decay in review currency, accuracy and utility. We are developing an approach to systematic review updating we term ‘living systematic review’ (LSR): systematic reviews which are continually updated, incorporating relevant new evidence as it becomes available. We hypothesise that a continual approach to review updating will achieve greater currency, and therefore accuracy and benefits to end users, with feasible resource requirements over time.

Living Systematic Reviews: 2. Combining Human and Machine Effort (James Thomas et al)

This paper outlines the way in which new technologies – which encompass human and machine effort – can make the living systematic review approach viable and sustainable. This paper describes the potential – and limitations – of new ways of undertaking specific tasks in living systematic reviews. It pinpoints areas where these human / machine technologies are already ready for use, and where further research and development is needed. We consider each stage of the LSR process, and describe how people and machines can cooperate in mutually supportive ways.

Living Systematic Reviews: 3. Statistical Methods for Updating Meta-Analyses (Mark Simmonds et al)

Frequent updating increases the likelihood of changing the conclusions of the meta-analyses. If using standard meta-analysis methods, with conventional 95% confidence intervals. The chance of incorrectly concluding that any updated meta-analysis is statistically significant when there is no effect (Type I error) increases as more updates are performed. Inaccurate estimation of any heterogeneity across studies may also lead to inappropriate conclusions, particularly when there are few studies in the analysis. New statistical approaches are needed to better handle these challenges.

Living Systematic Reviews: 4. Living Guideline Recommendations (Elie Akl et al)

Living Guidelines linked to living systematic reviews holds the promise of providing timely, up-to-date and high quality guidance to target users. However, achieving living guidelines requires specific methodology for their set up, continual development, and dissemination. This paper defines living guidelines and discusses when they are appropriate, the workflows required to support them, the thresholds for changing recommendations, and potential approaches to publication and dissemination.

We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback about these articles – please get in touch with us via lsr@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.

Support for the Cochrane Review 'Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under' and application of machine/crowd technologies to monthly searches was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

A very warm welcome to Cape Town! We look forward to welcoming more than 1400 people from at least 67 countries to the first ever Global Evidence Summit.

The Global Evidence Summit will be the first time that Cochrane, The Campbell Collaboration, Guidelines International Network, International Society for Evidence-based Health Care, and Joanna Briggs Institute have joined forces to create this premiere event in evidence-based policy.

The theme of the Summit is ‘Using evidence. Improving lives’ and aims to advance the use of reliable research evidence in addressing some of the world’s most serious health and social challenges. We’ve created an illuminating line-up of content and world-class speakers and facilitators that promises to excite, intrigue and engage wide audiences.

We hope the Summit will provide the fruitful ground for all delegates to meet, share and collaborate to progress our aims. For a full programme schedule visit globalevidencesummit.org/signup.

Enjoy the Summit, and do take some time to explore a little of our beautiful country during your stay with us.

Best wishes,

Jimmy Volmink and Tamara Kredo
Chairs of the Organising Committees for the 2017 Global Evidence Summit

Attend the regional representative’s networking session at GES and meet other organizations in your region

Wednesday 13 September, 1-2pm, Exhibition Halls 1& 2

Sign-up here: https://www.globalevidencesummit.org/meetings/regional-representatives-networking-session

Sign-up to the Cochrane AGM part 1 & 2

Part 1: Community session, Thursday 14 September, 6-7pm, Auditorium 1: https://www.globalevidencesummit.org/meetings/cochrane-annual-general-meeting-part-1-community-session

Part 2: Thursday 14 September, 7-8pm, Auditorium 1: https://www.globalevidencesummit.org/meetings/cochrane-annual-general-meeting-part-2

Download the GES app and create your personalized schedule

Search ‘GESummit 2017’ in iOS and Android app stores.

BE WATER WISE

Cape Town has been experiencing one of the most severe droughts in recent history. The whole province is severely affected and water restrictions are in place. We therefore request all delegates of the GES to keep this in mind and to use water sparingly. When you’re at your hotel, take a quick shower instead of a bath, don’t put towels in the laundry basket unless absolutely necessary, and be careful to close taps properly.

Strategies to reduce antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections in primary care

This Cochrane Overview is the first publication produced with the support of Cochrane’s Fast Track service. This service, which is offered by the Cochrane Editorial Unit, supports expedited production of high-quality, high-impact Cochrane Reviews. For more information, please visit the Fast Track information page.

• Read more about this Cochrane Review and the key findings. 

Cochrane has always envisaged a world where Cochrane Reviews would be updated as soon as new relevant evidence became available. Now, with a new approach to review production and clever application of technology, Cochrane is trialling a way to do just that.

Anneliese Synnot of Project Transform’s living systematic review (LSR) team, in partnership with pilot LSR teams and editorial groups, the Cochrane Editorial Unit and the LSR Network, has been working away for some time on the methods and processes needed for Cochrane to pilot LSRs. We caught up with her on the eve of an exciting milestone for the LSR project.

‘I’m very proud and more than a little bit excited to see the publication of Cochrane’s first living systematic reviews’ says Annie. ‘We now have two review teams, led by Elie Akl and Lara Kahale, at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon (with Cochrane Gynaecological, Neuro-Oncology and Orphan Cancers) and Geoffrey Spurling, at University of Queensland, Australia (with Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections) who have transitioned their Cochrane Reviews into living mode.’

• Akl EA, Kahale LA, Hakoum MB, Matar CF, Sperati F, Barba M, Yosuico VED, Terrenato I, Synnot A, Schünemann H. Parenteral anticoagulation in ambulatory patients with cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017
• Spurling GKP, Del Mar CB, Dooley L, Foxlee R, Farley R. Delayed antibiotics for respiratory infections. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2017

‘A further LSR team, led by Rebecca Hodder and Luke Wolfenden, of University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Population Health in Australia, is working with the Cochrane Heart Group. They are also very close to transitioning their Cochrane review, Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged 5 years and under, into living mode. You can expect to see this published on the Cochrane Library very soon. All in all, we hope to have 3 LSRs published by the end of the year, with additional LSRs being prepared by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group.’

‘I’d like to extend a big thanks to the ever-growing community of systematic review, guideline and publication experts who have worked hard over the past year to achieve this exciting milestone for Cochrane’, Annie says. ‘I’d particularly like to acknowledge the contribution of Elie Akl, Lara Kahale and Gail Quinn, who have been working with us on the LSR methods and processes for over 12 months prior to transitioning their review’.

So what does this mean in practical terms? The above review teams have published a conventional update of an existing Cochrane Review on the Cochrane Library that will be now be maintained in living mode. They’ve outlined their plans for how they will do this in the methods section of the update. The teams will now be undertaking monthly searches to identify any new evidence relevant to their review, and communicating this to readers on the Cochrane Library.

Project Transform’s LSR team will be involved in a number of activities at the upcoming Global Evidence Summit, so if you are going to be in Cape Town, make sure you have the LSR events on your schedule! You can also find more information about the LSR work here, or email us at lsr@cochrane.org with your comments, questions, and feedback.

Support for the Cochrane Review 'Interventions for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in children aged five years and under' was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

Support for Project Transform is 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.

The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group at the University of Oxford in the UK is one of the oldest groups working on Cochrane Reviews. It has produced dozens of these during the last two decades and, in 2016, it embarked on a project to identify the top priorities for future research into tobacco control. 

The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group's research prioritization exercise involved more than 300 people and identified a total of 183 unanswered questions in tobacco control through two online surveys and an Oxford-based workshop. It identified 24 priority questions, grouped into eight priority themes. This new set of research priorities to support tobacco control will help ensure future research provides the greatest benefit to public health and value for money.

Read more about this excellent example of priority setting on Cochrane.org