Earlier this year we announced the launch of the Cochrane Methods Network, which brings together researchers, methodologists and others with an interest in methodology for evidence synthesis.

The Methods Network now brings you a bimonthly newsletter which will share news of methods-related events, developments and opportunities across Cochrane's every-growing and unrivalled methods community. Each newsletter contains:

• Top methods-related highlights from across Cochrane
• Upcoming events or opportunities for you to get involved
• New resources from Cochrane, such as online learning modules, developments to Cochrane Handbooks and other training materials
• Chance to get to know those who lead Cochrane Methods Groups

See our first ever newsletter from August 2021 here.

Stay connected with Cochrane Methods Network by setting up your Cochrane account and signing up for the Cochrane Methods Network newsletter directly to your inbox (via the Communications tab)! You can also join the Cochrane Methods Network by completing this webform.

The Cochrane Methods team has defined a programme of work to improve the quality and impact of Cochrane reviews in public health with the support of the Methods Executive, Methods Groups and Public Health and Health Systems Network. The programme has been designed to foster collaboration between Methods Groups and Cochrane Review Group (CRG) Networks and to support the ongoing response to COVID-19. It focuses on producing high-priority public health reviews and delivering user-friendly resources to improve the planning, conduct and reporting of methods within them.

Why focus on public health?
Public health reviews, especially those relating to COVID-19, are often highly scrutinised and have wide-ranging impacts on policy and global health outcomes. However, public health reviews typically address complex questions and use a range of complex methods that are considered non-standard in Cochrane, and existing guidance is not always being applied accurately or consistently. In the Cochrane context, public health reviews are defined as those that include diverse sources of evidence (e.g., not solely RCTs), complex interventions that are delivered at the population level (e.g., policies rather than drugs or treatments), exposures that cannot be delivered in randomized controlled trials (e.g. studying the effects of a chemical or viral exposure), and outcomes that measure something other than efficacy (e.g., harms, process outcomes, implementation or costs).

How will the programme support review production?
The programme of work is based on the premise that high-quality, timely review production requires expert methodological support and pragmatic resources that help authors and editors translate Handbook guidance into practice. The topics and approach have been designed to bring CRGs and Methods Groups together to ensure the projects and their outputs are designed with the needs of Cochrane editors and authors in mind.

Though the focus is on public health reviews, the challenges faced within them are often encountered in other topic areas, such as choosing when and how to include non-randomised studies of interventions, assessing bias in non-randomized studies of interventions, planning a useful synthesis in light of complexity and heterogeneity, incorporating qualitative evidence, and reporting results when a meta-analysis has not been possible. By tackling the challenges in a COVID-priority area, the aim will be to develop, adapt and apply the tools more widely across Cochrane. The Methods Support Unit plays an important role in bridging the gap between CRGs and Methods Groups and will be embedded in the projects to support capacity-building.

What has happened so far?
The Cochrane Methods team mapped the most frequently cited challenges from two recent methods surveys of CRGs by methodological area and listed possible projects to address them. The projects were then shortlisted considering extent of author and CRG need, potential for impact, and the anticipated time and resources required to deliver a useful output. The projects have been refined with Cochrane’s Methods Executive and project teams are now being brought together. Each has been designed to deliver a practical tool or decision aid for editors or authors by the end of 2021 that harnesses existing theory so that it can be more easily applied.

• Project 1: Preferred and accepted risk of bias tools for assessing bias in non-randomised studies of interventions
• Project 2: Practical guidance to frame public health intervention review questions, define outcomes and choose appropriate study designs
• Project 3: Standard terminology to help authors describe different study designs appropriately and consistently
• Project 4: Practical conduct and reporting guidance for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions and/or ROBINS-I
• Project 5: Practical tools to implement SWiM reporting guidance to improve pre-specification and presentation of findings

In addition to the projects, plans are underway to deliver a suite of learning resources around qualitative evidence synthesis, and to house a bank of exemplar reviews showcasing best practice. A Methods Symposium will also take place in October 2021 covering a range of methodological challenges relating to public health reviews and complex interventions. The symposium will be followed by a methods implementation surgery led by the Methods Support Unit and aimed at CRGs in November 2021 to discuss the outputs that were developed and how they can support editors and authors.

How can I get involved?
Each project will be encouraged to use Task Exchange to call for volunteers across the community to provide feedback on the first draft of the tools and resources being developed. Those interested in getting involved are encouraged to create a profile or contact the Methods Team directly to enquire about other ways to contribute.

Additional resources:

• Introduction to a collection of articles in the American Journal of Public Health describing the issues in more detail, coordinated by Lisa Bero, Senior Editor of the Cochrane Public Health and Health Systems network
• Priority review topics guiding Cochrane’s ongoing response to COVID-19

New functionality is now available in RevMan Web extending the number of ways data can be inputted when raw data from study reports does not match the format required for meta-analysis. Data entered into the calculator will also now be saved along with the calculated output, which will allow authors to better document how raw data have been transformed to support verification, transparency, and updating. Analyses will show a tick under a calculator icon to indicate where calculations were required.

The Knowledge Base has been updated with information about how to use the new functionality, the types of transformation that are now supported, and actions that authors should be aware of that could result in saved data being lost.

Feedback about the calculator functionality is welcome and should be directed to support@cochrane.org.

The Plain Language Summary Project, which began in May 2020 to see whether a team of professional writers could improve the quality, consistency, and translatability of Cochrane PLSs, has now ended. The project was undertaken with the support of Central Executive Team staff and a number of Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs), and support from our language translation teams and Cochrane Consumers.

Elizabeth Royle, Plain Language Summary Project Manager and Cochrane Copy Editing Manager, spoke to Katie Abbotts from the Knowledge Translations Department about this project.

What was the motivation behind this project?
Although Cochrane has published Plain language summaries (PLSs) for all reviews for around 20 years now, their quality has been variable, with some PLSs being too complicated, technical and inaccessible to people who were not medically trained.  Since PLSs should be able to be understood by as broad a range of people as possible, from different countries and with different levels of education, it was decided that we should try to improve the situation.

What was the overall aim?
There were three main aims, which were to make PLSs easier to read, understand, and translate into languages other than English.

Why is the PLS so important to Cochrane and as part of Cochrane Reviews?
PLSs distill down the most important points of reviews.  They form the basis of many other products used for dissemination of findings, for example, press releases, blog shots and infographics. They provide a foundation on which other endeavours rely.

What happened in the project?
We employed three professional writers to see whether having dedicated specialists in plain language would improve the standard of the PLSs Cochrane published.  The writers wrote the PLSs for all reviews and updates published through the Central Editorial Service and the MOSS (Musculoskeletal, Oral, Skin and Sensory) and PHHS (Public Health & Health Systems) networks, plus one or two from another 21 Review Groups.  During the year for which the project ran, the writers produced PLSs for 166 reviews and updates from a total of 35 Review Groups.

What have you learned?
Over 450 people provided input for evaluation of the project.  They expressed a strong preference for:

• a standardised format for PLSs
• phrasing headings as questions
• putting the same headings in the same order across all PLSs
• having a ‘Key messages’ section at the start of PLSs

The Review Groups told us that having access to PLS writers was a tremendous help, and something that they would value highly if it were to continue.

How might PLS writing develop going forward?
The writers have developed a template for writing PLSs, and guidance to support people writing PLSs.  The template and guidance are currently being user tested (until 31 August 2021).  Once the testing is complete, and feedback considered, these documents will be finalised. We will then request approval from the Editorial Board to deploy their use across Cochrane.

At present, we do not know whether Cochrane will be able to employ people to write PLSs beyond the duration of this project.

• View the draft PLS guide and template and help with user testing

Have your say on the Cochrane Convenes programme by filling in a short questionnaire

Cochrane Convenes is an online event hosted by Cochrane and co-organized with the World Health Organization and the COVID-19 Evidence Network to support Decision making (COVID-END) in October 2021. 

Drawing on experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the inaugural Cochrane Convenes will bring together leaders across the world to explore and then recommend the changes needed in evidence synthesis to prepare for and respond to future global health emergencies. It will also engage a larger global community of evidence producers and users in conversation via social media and other parallel activities.

In order to help us plan the programme, we want to learn from your experiences over the past 18 months. Please fill out this short questionnaire by 9 August. It will take about 10 minutes. You will remain anonymous. 

We will share responses and more information on how you can get involved in this opportunity in due course.  

• Complete the Cochrane Convenes planning questionnaire

Dear Community members and friends,

We would like to thank those of you who joined us for Cochrane’s virtual Governance Meetings last week.  

We’re delighted that 360 members from 49 countries attended the two sessions on 22 and 24 June; 128 one-to-one networking sessions were held; and 246 people were part of the breakout sessions.

We particularly enjoyed hearing your views through the event live chat, plenary Q/A, and responses to the Polls. Whilst we answered a number of your questions during the live sessions, we were unable to respond to them all. As promised, we are gathering all your questions, grouping them into themes and will provide responses to the frequently asked questions in the coming weeks. We know that there was specific interest in wanting more information on:

• Cochrane’s Strategy for Change;
• Cochrane’s consultative and research project on Open Access;
• Our plans for future funding opportunities; and,
• Cochrane’s plans for Review Production models.

We will provide updates on these key strategic areas in the coming weeks.

If you would like to watch and hear what happened:

• You can access the Plenary Session presentations from Cochrane’s leadership and recording from the opening plenary and closing plenary
• You can access the presentations and recordings from the breakout sessions:
  • Editorial Independence and Efficiency Project: presentations and recording
  • Promoting Cochrane and Demonstrating our Impact: presentations and recording
  • Challenges and Opportunities for Open Access: presentations and recording

We want to hear what you thought of the meeting overall and improvements we can make for future, virtual Cochrane gatherings. Please can you answer this short survey. Your feedback will help inform our future events strategy.

If you weren't able to attend the meeting, please can we ask you to complete this question so that we can plan for maximum attendance at future Cochrane gatherings.

We look forward to meeting with many of you again over the coming months - should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will get back to you – support@cochrane.org

We look forward to working with you as we shape Cochrane's future together. 

With our best wishes,  

Catherine Marshall and Tracey Howe
Co-chairs of the Governing Board                   

Judith Brodie
Interim Chief Executive Officer                          

Karla Soares-Weiser
Editor-in-Chief

A round-up of Cochrane community news from contributors, colleagues, and partners - updated through the month. For community events, please see our 'events round-up'.  If you would like an item added here, please email Lydia Parsonson <lparsonson@cochrane.org> with the link. 

June 2021

• Cochrane Eyes and Vision is seeking to appoint new editors to their Editorial Board
• Cochrane Ear, Nose and Throat has an open survey on consumer experiences with Menière’s disease, Vestibular migraine and PPPD
• New Cochrane Common Mental Disorders Deputy Co-ordinating Editor 
• Cochrane Common Mental Disorders has contributed to the new Mental Health Patterns Library
• Cochrane Croatia shares it's experience with local radio station
• Jani Ruotsalainen provides a tribute to Jos Verbeek for his retirement from Cochrane Work
• Recordings from Cochrane UK's #VirtuallyCochrane now available
• Cochrane Taiwan announces a meme design competition
• Meet the PAPaS Editorial Board
  •  Adrian Tookman
• Topic-specific Infomails from Cochrane Public Health Europe (in German)

May 2021

• Meet our Members Series: A Q&A with Dr. Cathy Yuan on Cochrane Canada
• Cochrane Wounds registers 300th title!
• Meet the PaPaS Editorial Board
  • Pete Cole
  • Sarah Yardley
  • Nick Wilkinson
• Welcome Tufts University Cochrane US Affiliate Center 
• Cochrane SA is offering bursaries to attend the Stellenbosch University Systematic review and meta-analysis course
• Welcoming Silvia Minozzi to the Cochrane Council as a methods representative
• Aubrey Sheiham Evidence-Based Healthcare in Africa Leadership Award
• Victorian Government to invest in Australian Living Evidence Consortium
• Welcome Jenn Mariano -  the new Assistant Managing Editor for the Cochrane Urology Review Group
• Cochrane Hong Kong: 7th Pan-Pacific Nursing Conference Pre-Conference Workshops 

April 2021

• Survey - Predatory journal research in evidence synthesis
• Evidence needs in insurance medicine
• Meet our members: A Q&A with Cochrane Hypertension's Dr. Mohamed Ben-Eltriki
• Meet the PaPas Editorial Board
  • Emma Fisher
  • Kate Seers 
  • Winfried Hauser
  • Ewan McNicol
  • Sebastian Straube
  • Amanda C de C Williams
  • Hayley Barnes
  • Alessandro Chiarotto
• Announcement of the 13th Cochrane Croatia Symposium
• Cochrane Global Ageing: Are we measuring the right function outcomes for older adults in reviews by the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Group?
• Cochrane Singapore - Upcoming Workshop 2021
• Meet Melissa Taylor, Research Assistant with CIDG editorial base
• The Russian Medical Academy for Continuing Professional Education (RMANPO) is the new home for Cochrane Russia
• The Lanzhou University, Affiliate of the Cochrane China Network Co-organized 2021 National Clinical Practice Guidelines Methodology Training Course in Beijing
• Does wearing a face mask stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses?
• Cochrane Eyes and Vision has moved

March 2021

• New Cochrane PaPas Editorial Board Member: Dr Bethan Copsey
• New Cochrane PaPas Editorial Board Member: Associate Professor McKenzie Ferguson
• Japan 2020 Top 5 Translators 

If you would like an item added here, please email Lydia Parsonson <lparsonson@cochrane.org> with the link. 

Dr Murray Enkin, whose work contributed to the creation of Cochrane, died on 6 June 2021. 

An obstetrics pioneer and prominent influencer in the early days of the formation of Cochrane, Dr Murray Enkin was instrumental in developing evidence-based perinatal clinical trials and systematic reviews, challenging many common interventions not supported by research evidence. He, along with his latewife, Eleanor, also strongly advocated for family-centred maternity care such as the presence of fathers during childbirth and non-labour room deliveries.

Dr Enkin, who died on 6 June 2021, graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1947 and received specialist training on obstetrics and gynecology at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, United States, a few years later. The mainstay of his medical practice was in Hamilton, Canada, becoming departmental chief of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St. Joseph’s Hospital and among inaugural faculty for the opening of the McMaster University Medical School. As Professor Emeritus, he retired in 1988.

Dr Enkin was recognized with the Order of Canada in 2013 for his contributions to maternal care and development of midwifery as a recognized profession in Canada. From 1999-2017, McMaster hosted the annual Murray and Eleanor Enkin Lectureship, to focus on the key role that humanitarian values should take in clinical research and science in general.

Iain Chalmers, the first Director of Cochrane UK, said, “My friend and colleague Murray Enkin has died a few days after his 97th birthday. He had every reason to be pleased with the contributions he made during his long life, and I am indebted to him for many of these. My friendship and collaboration with Murray began in the late 1970s when we had met at a meeting entitled ‘Maternity Care in Ferment’ organised by the Maternity Center Association (MCA) in New York. Prompted by discussions at the MCA meeting, Murray and his wife Eleanor decided to spend a sabbatical year with me and my colleagues at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit in Oxford. The most tangible result of our work together there was a book we co-edited entitled ‘Effectiveness and Satisfaction in Antenatal Care’ (Enkin and Chalmers 1982). The less tangible result of our work was the mutual learning that resulted from our different backgrounds in care during pregnancy and childbirth: Murray provided the wisdom that had come from decades of challenging some aspects of obstetric orthodoxy; I had come to challenge orthodoxy by raising questions about the effects of components of maternity care, reviewing existing evidence from research, and doing additional research to address important uncertainties. Our recruitment of Marc Keirse (who brought expertise in reproductive physiology) as a third editor led to the creation of an international team of over 100 people who worked together throughout the 1980s to create the 2- volume book ‘Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth” (Chalmers et al. 1989). Murray was also primarily responsible for creating a paperback summary of the larger book for women using the maternity services entitled ‘A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth’ (Enkin et al. 1989). To correct the systematic reviews in the books and keep them up to date, the reviews were also published electronically as the updatable ‘Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials’ (Chalmers ed. 1988).”  

James Neilson, Editor with Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth shares, “The Pregnancy & Childbirth Group was the first review group to establish with the start of the Cochrane Collaboration in 1992. Murray was its Co-ordinating Editor. He and Eleanor spent large periods of time in Oxford, and Murray developed the template of what it was to be a Cochrane Co-ordinating Editor and what a Cochrane review group would look like. More than anyone, he was the practical bridge between ‘The Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials’ and The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. He stepped down as Co-ordinating Editor in 1995 when the editorial base moved to Liverpool but continued to contribute as Editor and review author. Murray Enkin was not only a systematic reviewer of high methodological standing, but he was also a beautiful writer. He was very much the lead author of ‘Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth’, which ran to three editions. It started life as a paperback guide to the mammoth ‘Effective Care in Pregnancy & Childbirth,’ but took on a life of its own, combining evidence from Cochrane systematic reviews with a beautifully composed linking narrative. It was wildly popular, the third edition selling > 35,000 copies. Popular with consumers, obstetricians and midwives, its success was testament to Murray Enkin’s rare ability to communicate clearly and succinctly”.

Karla Soares-Weiser, Editor in Chief of the Cochrane Library said, "Murray Enkin will be deeply missed. We are proud of the contribution he made to the work that inspired the Cochrane Collaboration. Together, the ‘Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth’, its paperback summary of contents ‘A Guide to Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth’, and ‘Oxford Database of Perinatal Trials’ provided the model that led to the development of the Cochrane Collaboration in the early 1990s.” 

• Read 'A Tribute to Dr Murray Enkin' on the Cochrane Canada website

The Cochrane Council aims to ensure that Cochrane Groups retain an effective voice in Cochrane’s leadership and strategic decision-making.

At its teleconference on 14 April, Council members voted unanimously to create two Council seats for members of the Early Career Professionals Network. We are delighted to welcome Santiago Castiello de Obeso and Ahmad Sofi-Mahmudi, as new representatives of the Early Career Professionals Network to the Council.

Santiago is a behavioural scientist from Guadalajara Mexico, currently a PhD candidate working in computational psychiatry at Oxford. Santiago got involved with Cochrane when he conducted a review with Cochrane Schizophrenia. He is also a member of Cochrane Mexico and part of the steering group of the Early Career Professionals Network.

Ahmad is a dentist and researcher from Kurdistan, Iran. Since its start, he has been involved with the Early Career Professionals Network as a steering group member. He is also a steering group member of Cochrane Iran and an author of the Cochrane Oral Health group. 

If you want to contact Santiago or Ahmad please visit this page.

As people around the planet observe World Environment Day on June 5, those of us working within Cochrane may wonder how we can contribute to alleviating the world’s environmental problems.  In recent years there has been increasing awareness that climate change poses major challenges for human health and health systems.  The Cochrane Climate-Health Working Group has brought together many passionate and committed people from all parts of the organization to consider the health impacts of climate change. They believe that Cochrane has an important role to play in preparing and disseminating relevant and rigorous evidence syntheses to support decision-making in this crucial area.

They welcome new members, from any part of Cochrane and any part of the world. No particular background or expertise with climate change is needed, just an interest in learning more. 

• To join or ask questions, please contact Denise Thomson at dthomson@ualberta.ca
• Learn more about the group and current projects: https://cam.cochrane.org/climate-health-working-group.