RevMan

RevMan
Name	RevMan
Developer	Cochrane Collaboration
Released	1993
Latest release	RevMan 5 / RevMan Web
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, Web
Genre	Systematic review software, Meta-analysis
License	Proprietary (Cochrane)

RevMan

RevMan is a software application used for preparing and maintaining systematic reviews and meta-analyses, developed by the Cochrane Collaboration with links to major organizations such as the World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health, European Commission, British Medical Journal, and The Lancet. It is widely adopted by institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, National Health Service (England), University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University for producing evidence syntheses that inform World Bank policy, United Nations health programs, and regulatory guidance from the European Medicines Agency.

Overview

RevMan provides an integrated environment for writing protocols, conducting literature screening, extracting data, performing statistical synthesis, and producing manuscripts for publication in venues such as The Cochrane Library, BMJ, New England Journal of Medicine, and PLOS Medicine. It supports workflows used by systematic review groups associated with organizations like Cochrane, Campbell Collaboration, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and academic centers at Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, and University College London. The application interfaces with citation managers and databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINAHL for import and export operations.

History and Development

Initial development began under the auspices of the Cochrane Collaboration in the early 1990s, contemporaneous with milestones such as the founding of The Cochrane Library and the proliferation of evidence-based medicine championed by figures at McMaster University and Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. Key development phases paralleled initiatives by National Library of Medicine, Wellcome Trust, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to standardize reporting and methodology exemplified by standards like CONSORT, PRISMA, and protocols advocated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Major updates corresponded with technological trends driven by vendors and institutions such as Microsoft Corporation, IBM, Google, and Amazon Web Services enabling migration from desktop clients to web-based services in partnership with entities like JAMA editorial groups and consortiums including EUnetHTA.

Features and Functionality

RevMan implements functionalities for structured protocol writing, risk-of-bias assessment, and generation of forest plots, funnel plots, and summary tables used in publications by journals such as The Lancet Oncology, JAMA Oncology, Nature Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine. It contains templates aligning with reporting requirements from organizations like World Health Organization, Food and Drug Administration, and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and integrates with guideline developers at NICE and research funders including National Institutes of Health and Horizon 2020. Visualization and export features support dissemination through platforms such as ResearchGate, arXiv, and institutional repositories at Yale University, Princeton University, and Columbia University.

Data Input and Management

Data import workflows are designed to work with bibliographic exports from services and databases such as PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and SciELO, and to accept extraction schemas used by research groups at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, University of Toronto, and Monash University. Management tools help harmonize study-level variables relevant to trials registered in registries like ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN Registry, and the European Clinical Trials Database, and accommodate taxonomy mappings cited by organizations such as WHO International Classification of Diseases committees and task forces at United Nations Children's Fund.

Statistical Analysis and Meta-Analysis Tools

Statistical modules support fixed-effect and random-effects models, subgroup analyses, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses consistent with methods outlined by authorities including DerSimonian and Laird methodology champions and statisticians affiliated with Cochrane Statistical Methods Group, Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, and curricula at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The software outputs statistical graphics and heterogeneity metrics used in reviews that inform guidelines from World Health Organization, American Heart Association, European Society of Cardiology, and trialists publishing in Circulation and British Journal of Surgery.

Software Versions and Compatibility

Historically distributed as a Windows desktop application, later releases and the RevMan Web transition increased compatibility with browsers and cloud infrastructures utilized by institutions like Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and university data centers at University of Cambridge and ETH Zurich. Versioning and update cycles have mirrored practices in software projects at Linux Foundation and standards set by consortia such as IETF and W3C for interoperability with reference managers like EndNote, Zotero, and Mendeley.

Reception and Impact on Evidence Synthesis

RevMan has been widely cited in systematic reviews and guideline documents from organizations including Cochrane, NICE, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and professional societies such as American College of Physicians, Royal College of Physicians, and American Thoracic Society. It has influenced pedagogy at academic programs in evidence synthesis at McMaster University, University of Copenhagen, Duke University, and University of Melbourne, and features in training by funders like NIH and philanthropies such as the Wellcome Trust and Gates Foundation. Reviews in journals like BMJ, PLOS ONE, and Systematic Reviews discuss strengths and limitations compared to tools developed by commercial vendors and open-source projects supported by communities around R Project for Statistical Computing, Python Software Foundation, and statistical packages used by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Category:Software for evidence synthesis