Dear colleagues - Happy New Year!

2016: a year of organizational change and growth

For a year that brought us world-changing events, some of you may be glad to see the back of 2016. For Cochrane it has been a very good year - we saw continuity and growth in all our key organizational indicators, and huge progress being made on our major Strategy to 2020 initiatives. Many of these are due to be launched in 2017, bringing significant changes and – we hope - improvements to our products, ways of working, outreach and, most importantly, impact on health decision making by users of Cochrane evidence.

Usage of the Cochrane Library measured through website visits continued to show astonishing growth: 45% in the first nine months of 2016 compared to the same period the year before. As of September 2016 39% of all Cochrane Reviews are freely available worldwide through our ‘green’ and ‘gold’ open access policies, and this number continues to grow. At the same time, income from sales of the Cochrane Library greatly exceeded our annual targets, with royalty revenues increasing by 13.2% in 2016 compared to 2015, giving us the flexibility to continue to invest in the strategic priorities set out in our Strategy to 2020. We also achieved significant fundraising success, attracting our first major grants to support Cochrane Strategy to 2020 initiatives, including a grant of USD$1.15 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which will support our Linked Data work.
 
We also successfully completed significant parts of our organizational reforms in 2016. The Steering Group approved new structure and function plans for Cochrane Review Groups in October. At the same time, Centre and Associate Centre Directors endorsed new detailed responsibilities and accountabilities for geographic-oriented Groups. These legitimize the Cochrane Network concept and introduce new smaller Affiliate Groups that can be set up in existing and new countries. We will implement these changes in 2017, as well as the major governance changes that were a highlight of the year for us. Cochrane’s new Articles of Association, which were unanimously approved by the Annual General Meeting in October, have replaced the Steering Group with a Governing Board, and a switch from a Group-based to an individual membership model, enfranchising thousands more people to vote both for candidates for the Board and on our organizational policies and governance. As you will be aware, the first Board elections to take place under this new model are now underway, and I encourage you to cast your votes for four new members from the 11 excellent candidates standing. We are also finalizing the selection of Cochrane Group representatives on the new Council advisory body to the Board; this group will meet for the first time in April at the Mid-Year Meeting in Geneva.
 
These developments are, in many ways, just the first fruits of the huge amounts of work we are doing together to deliver our Strategy to 2020 ambitions. Next month we will share with you our detailed projection of what success will look like by 2020 for each one of the 28 strategic objectives. The Governing Board approved these ‘definitions of success’ in December, along with the 2017 Plan & Budget, which is now available for you to read and use. The Plan & Budget provides the framework for all centrally managed activities and spending by the Central Executive Team (CET); and this year shows the amounts allocated to each of the four Strategy Goals. Of the £7 million approved to be spent in 2017, 24% (£1.7 million) will be returned directly to Cochrane Groups via funding programmes for methods development, translations, training, and review production; and also for governance, centralized support to Managing Editors and Information Specialists, and commissioned work for various Strategy to 2020 projects.
 
Data gathered in 2016 show that Cochrane Group funding continues to remain stable, with strategic support being provided to Groups in Cochrane Canada to assist them achieve longer-term sustainable funding, we hope, in 2017. At the same time, new Cochrane Groups continue to develop, including:

•         the launch of our first single-country Network in Brazil with five new Affiliates
•         the recognition of dynamic new Fields in the areas of Global Ageing and Rehabilitation
•         agreement in December on the formation of a new Cochrane Iran Associate Centre to expand Cochrane’s reach into a region where our influence has previously been very limited.

We anticipate that these new Groups will contribute to an increase in total funding (from £15 million in 2016) attracted by Cochrane Groups to support their work; and my deepest thanks and appreciation for the tireless work of so many of you to secure this funding.
 

2017: completion and launch of major new initiatives

 
2017 is going to be a critically important year for Cochrane, and one of its highlights will be the Global Evidence Summit (GES) in Cape Town, South Africa, 13-16 September, with four partner evidence organizations. We are in the final stages of developing a compelling and wide-ranging programme of training and workshops - just as at our normal Colloquia - which will complement the new activities and sessions that will be specially designed for the Summit. More details on this programme will follow soon. I very much hope that you are planning to attend as it will give you a unique opportunity to work with and learn from colleagues from other important evidence-using and evidence-producing organizations. We believe the GES will provide the leading event of the year for those interested in evidence-informed policy and practice in health care and other sectors, too.

There is so much to look forward to in the coming 12 months, and whilst the changes that are coming may be, at times, disorientating, we are already seeing in the ways that we measure the output and impact of Cochrane’s work the value of the changes we are making. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about all that lies ahead, please don’t hesitate to contact me, Editor in Chief David Tovey or any of my Senior Management Team or CET colleagues.
 
With my very best wishes,
 
Mark Wilson

Update: abstract submission deadline extended to 15 March

This year, in place of our annual Colloquium, Cochrane is partnering with Campbell Collaboration, Guidelines International Network, Joanna Briggs Institute and the International Society for Evidence-based Health Care for the first ever Global Evidence Summit, a premiere event in evidence-based policy. The Summit will be hosted by Cochrane South Africa in Cape Town on 13 -16 September 2017.

Cochrane would like to encourage groups within the Cochrane Community to submit abstracts, workshops, and special sessions as they would to the annual Colloquia. The key difference with the Global Evidence Summit is that submissions are more likely to be accepted if they are relevant to participants from the other partners helping to organize the Summit, and link to this Summit’s theme of ‘Using evidence. Improving lives.’ We have an event lined up that aims to showcase the luminaries in the field, and to challenge and stimulate policymakers and practitioners on how to base their decisions on the best available evidence.

The Summit’s Scientific Committee is currently planning the programme so that the main plenary themes thread into a select number of special sessions each day, ensuring momentum for these topics as well as providing a chance to delve deeper. We will announce the main themes in the next few weeks and share with the Community.

If you are a facilitator of a workshop that regularly appears at Colloquia, we would be delighted if you would submit your content to the Global Evidence Summit. If elements of your workshop can be developed further to consider our partner organizations and/or the main themes of the Summit – even better!

In February we will provide a confirmed list of Cochrane business meetings and other sessions that will take place at the Summit, as agreed by Cochrane’s Senior Management Team. Meeting space at the Summit is limited, as slots are shared with our partners. Any other Cochrane business meetings will need to happen at the Cochrane Mid-Year Meeting or outside of this year’s Global Evidence Summit. The Annual General Meeting is confirmed and will include the annual Cochrane awards and prizes.

Cochrane Symposia such as Methods or Knowledge Translation can be submitted to the Summit as either special sessions or as workshops. Again, the abstracts will need to consider our partner organizations and the main themes of the event.

The Global Evidence Summit also has a call open for ‘satellite’ events. Satellite events are full- or half-day workshops or symposia that will occur prior to 13 September. Submissions should further the event goals, and foster interaction and the development of partnerships. The Local Organizing Committee will help source a venue, catering, and equipment, but the costs of satellite events fall to the facilitating organization.

Key links

• Call for abstracts
• Call for workshops
• Call for special sessions
• Call for satellite events
• Prizes and awards

Please note that the call for abstracts, workshops, special sessions, and satellite events closes on 15 March.

If you have any further questions regarding submissions to the Global Evidence Summit, please contact Holly Millward at hmillward@cochrane.org.

We are very pleased to announce that Cochrane South Africa has appointed Charles Shey Wiysonge as its new Director, effective December 2016. The Founding Director of Cochrane South Africa, Jimmy Volmink, will be stepping down from managing day-to-day operations at the Centre, but will continue to serve as Chair of the Global Organizing Committee for the 2017 Global Evidence Summit.

To find out more, please read the full story on cochrane.org. 

We are pleased to announce the 10 successful titles from the third Cochrane Review Support Programme (CRSP) funding round.

1. Airway physical examination tests for detection of difficult airway management in apparently normal patients (Anaesthesia, Critical and Emergency Care)
    
2. Atraumatic restorative treatment versus conventional restorative treatment for the management of dental caries (Oral Health)
    
3. Cognitive rehabilitation for spatial neglect following stroke (Stroke)
    
4. Interventions for preventing upper gastrointestinal bleeding in people admitted to intensive care units (Upper GI and Pancreatic Diseases)
    
5. Interventions for weight reduction to improve survival in obese women with endometrial cancer (Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers)
    
6. Lifestyle intervention for improving school achievement in overweight or obese children and adolescents (Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems)
    
7. Macrolides for bronchiectasis/Oral versus inhaled antibiotics for bronchiectasis (Airways)
    
8. Methods of consumer involvement in developing healthcare policy and research, clinical practice guidelines and patient information material (Consumers and Communication)
    
9. Non-pharmacological interventions for treating chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome (Urology)
    
10. Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly (Acute Respiratory Infections)

We received 16 applications from 12 Groups. To evaluate the applications, we convened an international assessment panel comprising seven Cochrane contributors and consumers of Cochrane Reviews, who generously shared their time and expertise:

Maya Elin O'Neil, AHRQ PCOR K12 Scholar; Neuropsychologist, VA Portland Health Care System, Assistant Professor, Oregon Health and Science University, Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology & Department of Psychiatry

Dr Urbà González, Unit of Dermatology, CLĺNICA GO&FER, Barcelona, Spain

Dr Richard Lehman, Hightown Surgery, Oxford, UK

Prof Ashraf F Nabhan, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Dr Sera Tort, Cochrane Editorial Unit, London, UK

Dr David Tovey, Editor in Chief, the Cochrane Library, Cochrane Editorial Unit, London, UK

Dr. Jorge Zepeda - Secretary of Health of Florianópolis, Brazil / University of Leeds, UK

The panel members assessed the applications according to the criteria outlined in the application form and gave each review an overall score out of 10. The maximum possible score for each review was 70 (10 points x 7 assessors).

The next funding round will open sometime in April 2017 and will be advertised via the usual Cochrane communication channels.

Consultation on the draft document “Consumer involvement in Cochrane: developing the Statement of Principles” 

Closing date for feedback: 31 December 2016

Dear colleagues,
During 2015, the Cochrane Consumer Network undertook its Structure and Function Review, examining key elements about consumer involvement in Cochrane, and the ways in which it is supported. The report from this review is available online; amongst other things, the review showed that the ways in which consumers are currently involved in Cochrane varies significantly across the organization. For example, the review found that there is:

• little consensus about the best way to involve consumers in Cochrane activities;
• no consistent approach to the way Review Groups, Fields, and authors involve consumers in the review process;
• lack of support for authors, Review Groups and others in the form of guidance, resources, and tools for working with consumers;
• wide variation in the amount of resources available for those who involve consumers in reviews;
• difficulty in demonstrating the impact and value of consumer involvement.

To address these concerns, in 2016 the Consumer Network Executive prepared the Consumer Delivery Plan to 2020. The plan sets out eight key priorities for the development of consumer involvement in Cochrane. The first priority is to “Develop and adopt a statement of principles about consumer involvement in Cochrane”: a shared agreement on the consumer role and how the whole organization can work with consumers will make our work clearer, reduce variations and uncertainty, and improve our effectiveness. It will also explain to our external partners how we include consumers in our work.

A task group comprising consumers, authors, and others has drafted the statement and will steer the consultation process, refine the statement in line with responses, and present the final draft to the Consumers Executive and Cochrane Steering Group.

Consultation and next steps
Comments on this draft Statement of Principles document are warmly invited from anyone with an interest in consumer involvement in Cochrane: consumers (patients, care givers, family members, people who support patient and public involvement in research, and citizens generally), review authors, members of Cochrane Review Groups, Fields, Centres and Branches, Cochrane staff, and Cochrane’s external partners, funders, and those who use Cochrane evidence.

• Consumer involvement in Cochrane: developing the statement of Principles [PDF]
   

Please submit your feedback and comments via our online survey until the closing date of 31 December 2016.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook and on Twitter by searching for @cochraneconsumr.

If you are attending the 2016 Cochrane Colloquium in Seoul, please come and join the discussion about this statement.

The final draft ‘Statement of Principles’ will be presented to the Cochrane Board, and will guide future consumer involvement in Cochrane and in particular the Cochrane Consumer Delivery Plan to 2020 and beyond.

If you have any other questions about the statement, please email Richard Morley.

Best wishes

Richard Morley
Consumer Coordinator

Cochrane Crowd , Cochrane’s new citizen science platform, is a global community of almost 4,000 volunteers who are helping to classify the research needed to support informed decision-making about healthcare treatments.

Cochrane Crowd would like your help to achieve one million classifications  by the end of the year. Help Cochrane Crowd get over the line by joining the 48 hour Citation Screening Challenge on 19-21 December.

To find out more, read the full story on cochrane.org or head to Cochrane Crowd.

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.

Cochrane and the Epistemonikos Foundation are delighted to announce the launch of our official partnership aimed at improving the knowledge base for making decisions in health care and global health policy.

The close alignment of objectives, values, products, and services between Cochrane and Epistemonikos has existed for some years. Both organizations believe that systematic and rigorous approaches to research synthesis lead to better-informed choices by policymakers, practitioners, and the public, and thus to better health outcomes for people throughout the world.

The Epistemonikos Foundation is a non-profit organization whose core objectives are to bring evidence closer to those making health decisions through technology and innovation, primarily via the Epistemonikos database. The database was established in 2009 and by the end of 2016 is expected to include close to 100,000 systematic reviews.

Cochrane and Epistemonikos wish to continue our history of working together by establishing a long-term collaboration to build on our respective strengths and together develop products and services to support the healthcare community. To this end our organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to structure and focus our collaborative work for the next five years.

Julian Elliott, Cochrane Lead for Evidence Systems, said: ‘Many within Cochrane have been working closely with Epistemonikos for some time and using the great resources provided by the Epistemonikos database. We are thrilled to see this relationship move into a new phase of close and productive partnership and are looking forward to many more joint initiatives.’

These sentiments were echoed by Epistemonikos Co-Founder and Chairman Gabriel Rada, who said: ‘Epistemonikos started as a small project that was born within Cochrane. In some way it was conceived to complement the role of Cochrane, and for the same reason we have a common vision, methods, and ethos. Now the project is mature and ready for greater challenges. We are thrilled to partner Cochrane in this endeavour.’

For more information on the partnership and plans for the future, please contact the Cochrane Central Executive team.

We're posting all the highlights from the 2016 Cochrane Colloquium here - watch this space as we'll continue to update with new stories as we receive them!

Colloquium by the numbers

• 813 participants from 49 countries
• 96 workshops
• 191 posters
• 151 oral presentations

Plenary and AGM videos now available
Videos from all four plenary sessions, including the Annual Cochrane Lecture, as well as the full 2016 Annual General Meeting, are now available on Cochrane's YouTube channel.

Colloquium stories
People who were part of the #CochraneSeoul experience are sharing their stories - read a blog post from the UK-based Evidence Synthesis team, a blog post from Cochrane Croatia, a blog post from Cochrane Australia, and  a Storify of key tweets from a US contributor. And if you've got a story to share, let us know!

2016 Cochrane prize and award winners
Each year Cochrane presents a number of prizes and awards to contributors to recognize contributions to our work and organization made in various ways - find out more about the 2016 selections.

Cochrane Community's response to Strategy to 2020
Cochrane's 2016 Annual General Meeting included a Special Session where the Cochrane Community had the opportunity to share their stories of responding to the challenges of Strategy to 2020. As well as live presentations from a selection of Cochrane Groups from around the world, the session included this video highlighting just a few stories among many of what Strategy to 2020 means to Cochrane Groups and their work within local contexts:

Steering Group decisions from the 2016 Cochrane Colloquium
Read about the many decision coming from the meeting of the Steering Group.

Seoul Colloquium Pictures
Browse through pictures taken at the Colloquium! You are welcome to use these pictures on your Cochrane website, newsletters, and social media. If you have pictures you would like to contribute, please contact mumoquit@cochrane.org

Andrew Herxheimer Memorial Meeting
Friends’ Meeting House, St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
Tuesday 15 November 2016, 10am for a 10.30 start
 
We very much hope that you will be able to join us on Tuesday 15 November 2016 to remember our colleague Andrew Herxheimer (1925-2016). We will celebrate his extraordinary contributions, in particular to the fields of pharmacology, patients’ experiences, and The Cochrane Collaboration.

We will also take great pleasure in remembering his warmth, charm and humour, his editorial skills and enthusiasm for plain English, and of course the constant puns. Indeed, the Guardian obituary writer noted that Andrew used ‘words as precision tools’ and ‘punned in four languages’.

There will be talks and photographs, personal reflections from Andrew’s daughters Sophie and Charlotte, and from his wife, Christine.

Confirmed speakers include Iain Chalmers, Nicky Britten, Anita Hardon, Gabriele Lucius-Hoene, Trish Greenhalgh,  Jeffrey Aronson and Sue Ziebland.
  
To cover the costs, including venue hire, coffee, lunch, and tea we are inviting people to pay £45 a head. Any money that is left over will be donated to the DIPEx charity, of which Andrew was the co-founder (with Ann McPherson) and a trustee until his death.

See here to book and pay for your place. [old link removed]

Where financial constraints, or the use of online booking, would be a barrier to participation, please contact Elizabeth Woolliams for assistance (01865  617844, elizabeth.woolliams@phc.ox.ac.uk).

Cochrane Complementary Medicine is pleased to announce our 2016 bursary scheme, made possible through funds from the US National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. The purpose of this bursary scheme is to ensure that reviews relevant to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are completed and published in The Cochrane Library. 

Funding offered
Two review proposals in the amount of $5,000 USD each will be funded. The funding must be paid directly to the individual bursary recipient; it cannot be paid to the recipient's institution. 

Eligibility requirements

• Review must be registered with a Cochrane Review Group, and the relevant protocol/review must already be published in The Cochrane Library;

• the topic of the review must relate to CAM (see scope in Call for Applications); and

• bursaries will be targeted to reviews for which substantial progress has already been made and whose completion has been stalled due to a lack of funding.

Timeline
Completed application forms should be e-mailed to Susan Wieland by 29 November 2016. Forms sent by postal delivery or fax will not be accepted. Successful candidates will be notified by 10 January 2017. Funds will be distributed to successful applicants in a single installment, after the award notification. Funds must be paid to the individual recipients of the bursary, and not to their institutions.

For more information (e.g., the assessment criteria, additional details about eligibility and application procedures), please see the full Call for Applications and Application Form.