Cochrane Stroke Group
Newsletter
February 2004
FUNDING
In the summer of 2003, the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Scottish Executive provided infrastructure funding for the Cochrane Stroke Group Editorial Office in Edinburgh from 1 July 2003 until 30 June 2006. This funding allows us to continue supporting our reviewers in the production and maintenance of their Cochrane reviews. Therefore, it is imperative that we continue to publish high quality new and updated reviews in The Cochrane Library. Please contact the Editorial Office (csrg@skull.dcn.ed.ac.uk) if you need any help with your review.
MINI-SABBATICALS IN EDINBURGH
If you are having difficulties with your protocol or review, or just find it impossible to dedicate protected time to working on it, why not consider a short visit to the Editorial Office in Edinburgh? We may be able to offer some funding towards travel and accommodation costs during your visit, and will be able to provide you with quiet office space, a computer, and access to the Editorial Office Staff and other resources. Contact Hazel for further details (hazel.fraser@ed.ac.uk).
NEW EDITORS
Professor Stephen Haines (USA) and Dr Chris Chen (Singapore) both stepped down from the Cochrane Stroke Group Editorial Board in October 2003 because of other pressing commitments. However, Professor Ale Algra (the Netherlands), Dr Eivind Berge (Norway), and Dr Audrey Bowen (UK) have all accepted our invitation to join the Editorial Board, and officially took up their posts in January 2004.
TRIALS SEARCHING AND THE SPECIALISED REGISTER
How the Cochrane Stroke Group (and its ever-growing Specialised Register of stroke trials) helps reviewers to identify trials.
The Cochrane Stroke Group produces and maintains systematic reviews of interventions for the secondary prevention of stroke, the acute treatment and rehabilitation of stroke patients and the organisation of stroke services. Central to this process is the support given to reviewers to identify all trials relevant to their review topic.
The major resource available for reviewers is the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register, a study-based register of randomised controlled trials and controlled clinical trials. The register is the result of a comprehensive and up-to-date trials identification programme carried out at the Group's editorial base in Edinburgh. Each trial report is coded in detail from a copy of the original publication using a specially developed intervention coding system. Multiple reports of the same trial are then linked. This approach enables search strategies to be developed for each review using the intervention coding system, facilitates tracking of individual trials, particularly trials in progress and has identified specific areas where new systematic reviews are needed. The Information Specialist works with individual reviewers to design additional intervention-specific search strategies to complement the Cochrane Stroke Group general strategy and increase the likelihood of finding relevant trials. She is actively involved in preparing the search strategy section of reviews and protocols prior to publication in the Cochrane Library.
Our Trials Register now contains over 7000 reports in all languages relating to more than 3300 individual trials. Our annual multifile search of five major bibliographic databases is now complete for 2003, and screening of the identified 13000 references meeting the search strategy is in progress. All new trial reports will be added to the register which has been growing rapidly since 1995.
Although pharmacological agents account for the majority of trials, the register includes studies of a wide range of non-drug interventions including rehabilitation, surgery and complementary medicine. Bibliographic details of the published trials are available in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials in the Cochrane Library. More than 220 individuals based in 21 countries have contributed to the preparation of 72 Cochrane systematic reviews and a further 36 are in preparation.
The Information Specialist plays a crucial role in the review process and provides considerable support for reviewers searching for trials. The major resource is the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register and a wide programme of complementary strategies maximises trial identification.
This work will be presented at the 9th European Conference of Medical and Health Libraries in Santander later this year, and will describe the challenges involved in helping an international group of individuals, reviewing diverse topics in stroke healthcare, to identify all relevant trials, both published and unpublished.
USEFUL RESOURCES
The Cochrane Collaboration is constantly improving and updating its resources to help reviewers with their reviews. The following are particularly useful and we would encourage all reviewers, new and established, to look at these periodically - they are all available via our website at www.dcn.ed.ac.uk/csrg.
Click on 'For Reviewers' on the blue horizontal menu bar.
Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook

The Handbook is the main resource for Cochrane reviewers and should be the first place to go for guidance. It is regularly updated and a new Section 8: Analysing and presenting results is now available at: http://www.cochrane.org/resources/handbook/section8.pdf
RevMan and RevMan User Guide

The most up-to-date version of RevMan available is v4.2.3. While it is not mandatory to use this version, it is always advisable to use the most up-to-date version available. The User Guide is the most helpful document to help you get started with RevMan.
The Cochrane Collaboration Open Learning Materials

This is a very useful, and relatively new, resource for new reviewers with little or no experience of doing systematic reviews. It is also helpful for more established reviewers. We would encourage everyone to use this, especially if it is difficult for you to attend Cochrane reviewers workshops.
Cochrane Style Guide

This gives clear guidance as to the style Cochrane reviews should follow, including how to cite multiple references in the text, the layout for headings and subheadings, when to use numbers and when to spell them out in full, accepted abbreviations, and much more. Please use this before submitting your protocols, reviews and updates to ensure they are in the correct format.
UPDATING COCHRANE REVIEWS
  • It is Cochrane Collaboration policy that reviews should either be updated within two years or should have a commentary added to explain why this is done less frequently.

  • Updates can either be substantive (ie the results, conclusions and recommendations of a review change sufficiently so that users of the review need to be made aware of the changes), or non-substantive (ie changes, additions or corrections are made to the review which do not substantively change the overall message of the original review).

  • If you do a substantive update, please save your changes in RevMan as a substantive update.

  • If you do not do a substantive update, please do not save your changes as a substantive update in RevMan.

  • Please remember to go to the 'What's New' section in RevMan (via the Coversheet), describe the changes you have made in the text section, and then supply relevant dates in the Dates section. If you are not sure how to complete these, please contact Hazel (hazel.fraser@ed.ac.uk).

  • Please remember to update the abstract of the review in accordance with changes made to the main text of the review.

  • Please remember to add the new dates of your searches for relevant studies to both Search Strategy sections of the review (ie the abstract and the main text).

Please also be aware that it is Collaboration policy that protocols that have not been converted into full reviews within two years of being published should generally be withdrawn from the Cochrane Library.
COCHRANE EVENTS
Regional Meetings

The next UK Contributors to the Cochrane Collaboration meeting will take place in Edinburgh on 25/26 March 2004. Further details and the registration form can be accessed at: http://www.oi-secure.com/cochrane/home.htm
The next European Cochrane Contributors' Meeting will take place on 12-14 May 2004 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Further details at: http://www.cochrane.nl/

The Australasian Cochrane Contributors' Meeting will take place on 17-18 June 2004 in Sydney, Australia. Contact the Australasian Cochrane Centre for more information (http://www.cochrane.org.au/index.html)
Colloquium

The next Cochrane Colloquium will take place in Ottawa, Canada from 2-6 October 2004. Further details can be found at http://www.colloquium.info/
CCINFO
In order to keep up to date with developments within the Cochrane Collaboration which may impact on you, please subscribe to CCINFO if you have not already done so. CCINFO is the primary email list for the Cochrane Collaboration. It offers an excellent means of keeping members of the Collaboration well informed about the activities and policies of the Collaboration. The goal is that every Cochrane participant with access to email will be a subscriber.

The list is now moderated (all items will be checked for suitability before being distributed to subscribers). This means you can subscribe with the confidence that you will not waste time with irrelevant material. The list will be used for announcements and discussion of matters relevant to the Collaboration as a whole.
  • To subscribe, send an email (from the address you normally use) to

       ccinfo-list-request@mailman.mcmaster.ca

    The content of your message is simply:

       subscribe

    That's it. Don't fill in the subject or add a signature. Send it. Subscription is free.

  • When you want to share information with the other subscribers, address the email to the current moderator, Kathie Clark, at kclark@mcmaster.ca

    Your message will be reviewed and included in the next issue of the CCInfo newsletter.

  • Should you ever want to remove yourself from the CCINFO list, send an email (from the address you normally use) to ccinfo-list-request@mailman.mcmaster.ca with the content: unsubscribe

  • It is also possible to delete or add your name to the list on the web at http://mailman.mcmaster.ca/mailman/listinfo/ccinfo-list

If you have any questions about CCINFO contact Kathie Clark at the Canadian Cochrane Centre (email: Kclark@mcmaster.ca)
REVMAN DISCUSSION LIST
The RevMan list serves those using RevMan software to prepare Cochrane reviews. Subscribers are kept up to date with new releases, warned of freshly discovered problems, and given the opportunity to seek help from other users and the program developers.

This list has a web interface which is the preferred means of subscribing, unsubscribing, accessing the list archive, and setting options. Note: postings to the list are still delivered to you by email.

RevMan list web page: http://www.cochrane.de/mailman/listinfo/revman

To post a message to the list, address the email to:

   revman@cochrane.de

If your message involves a query about RevMan, indicate which version of RevMan you are using.

If you prefer to subscribe by email rather than use the web page, send an email to

   revman-request@cochrane.de

In the body of the message, or in the subject line, put:

   subscribe

If you want to specify a particular email address, the command is

   subscribe address=< email-address >

(fill in your email address. eg: subscribe address=fred@abc.edu)

That's all. Don't fill in the subject or add a signature. Send it.
AND FINALLY ……
  • If you have registered a review title with us, please try to submit the protocol for editorial comment by the due date.

  • If your protocol has received editorial approval, please ensure that you submit your review for editorial comment by the due date.

  • If you have received any editorial comments on work you have submitted, please respond as soon as possible.

  • If you have registered a title and no longer wish to do the review, please let us know in writing as soon as possible.

  • If you have a published review on the Cochrane Library, please ensure you keep it up to date.

  • If you are experiencing any problems with your protocol or review, please contact Hazel in the first instance.

The Editorial Board is here to help you!
CONTRIBUTIONS
We really would welcome your contributions to this newsletter. Please send anything you think would be of interest to other readers to us, via email at csrg@skull.dcn.ed.ac.uk. Thank you.