This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| Cochrane Handbook | |
|---|---|
| Title | Cochrane Handbook |
| Subject | Systematic review methodology |
| Publisher | Cochrane |
| First published | 1994 |
| Language | English |
Cochrane Handbook The Cochrane Handbook is the authoritative methodological guide for preparing and maintaining systematic reviews and meta-analyses associated with Cochrane. It synthesizes standards used by World Health Organization, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other national and international health organizations. The Handbook informs procedures linked to major evidence syntheses produced by entities such as The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, PLOS Medicine.
The Handbook provides detailed instructions on planning, conducting, reporting and updating systematic reviews, aligning with frameworks used by Institute of Medicine (US), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Cochrane Collaboration, World Bank, United Nations programs and academic publishers like Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Wiley-Blackwell. It addresses processes that intersect with guidelines from CONSORT, PRISMA Statement, GRADE Working Group, QUADAS-2, and regulatory practices observed by European Commission committees and judicial precedents from courts in United States Supreme Court contexts touching on evidence standards.
Development traces to the founding of Cochrane Collaboration in the early 1990s, with contributions from figures and institutions such as Iain Chalmers, Archie Cochrane, UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford University, McMaster University, University of York and funding or policy influences from Wellcome Trust, National Institutes of Health, Medical Research Council (UK), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, European Research Council. Revisions paralleled methodological advances documented in conferences like Society for Research Synthesis Methodology meetings and journals including Statistics in Medicine, Systematic Reviews (journal), Evidence-Based Medicine.
Organization mirrors sections addressing protocol development, search strategy, data extraction, bias assessment, synthesis and interpretation. Chapters integrate tools and concepts referenced by PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PROSPERO, ClinicalTrials.gov, and taxonomy efforts by MeSH and CINAHL. The Handbook cross-references analytic techniques utilized in meta-analyses found in reports by Cochrane Consumers and Communication Group, Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group, Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group, and methods discussed in textbooks from Cambridge University Press authors and curricula at Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Toronto.
It prescribes risk-of-bias approaches consistent with instruments like ROBINS-I, Risk of Bias Tool, and integrates grading of evidence concepts from GRADE Working Group, influencing assessments used by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence technology appraisals, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations, and health technology assessment bodies such as National Institute for Health and Care Research and Health Technology Assessment (journal). Statistical recommendations draw on methods employed by researchers associated with Cochrane Statistical Methods Group, frequentist and Bayesian schools represented by scholars at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and software ecosystems like RevMan, R (programming language), Stata.
Major editions and iterative online updates have been shaped by editorial input from teams at Cochrane Central Executive, editorial groups such as Cochrane Methods Editorial Board, and collaborations with methodologists at McMaster University and University of Oxford. Changes reflect evolving standards paralleling statements and initiatives by PRISMA 2020, ICMJE, COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), and updates in indexing by Scopus and Web of Science.
Practitioners employ the Handbook when registering protocols on platforms like PROSPERO and when conducting literature searches through MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and trial registries such as ISRCTN Registry. Its procedures underpin systematic syntheses cited in policy reports from World Health Organization, guideline development by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and major clinical practice updates in journals such as The BMJ, Annals of Internal Medicine, European Heart Journal.
The Handbook has been cited extensively in methodological literature and guideline manuals used by organizations including World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and academic programs at Imperial College London, Yale School of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. It has influenced reporting standards adopted by publishers such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and shaped teaching materials at international workshops run by Cochrane Training and conferences like Evidence Live.
Category:Research methods