The Bill Silverman Prize

William (Bill) Silverman, MD

William (Bill) Silverman (1924-2004) was one of the founders of American neonatal medicine. He was honoured repeatedly as one of the pioneers in his specialty; however, he often evoked somewhat contradictory responses amongst his colleagues because he was in the habit of raising troubling questions about the scientific basis and ethics of his and their practices. Like many of the people who have helped to establish The Cochrane Collaboration, Bill Silverman could be regarded as a 'troublemaker'. As he reiterated frequently, however, criticism is a form of troublemaking that can help to drive progress. Furthermore, criticism should not be limited to examining the work of others, but should also include self-criticism.

Bill Silverman Prize

The Bill Silverman Prize acknowledges explicitly the value of criticism of The Cochrane Collaboration, with a view to helping to improve its work, and thus achieve its aim of helping people make well-informed decisions about health care by providing the best possible evidence on the effects of healthcare interventions. The establishment of the Prize was approved by the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group in 2007, and awarded for the first time in early 2008.

The Prize is offered annually and the authors of a piece of research published or presented in the preceding 12 months (July to June) will be eligible. The criteria for the Prize are that the publication or presentation evaluated any aspect of the preparation, maintenance or dissemination of Cochrane reviews or the work of The Cochrane Collaboration more generally, and:

• was of high quality;
• was accompanied by constructive suggestions on how the relevant aspects of the work of The Cochrane Collaboration could be improved; and
• has had, or is likely to have, a positive impact on the scientific quality, relevance and use of Cochrane reviews.

The prize comprises a cash award of US$1,000 and a certificate. The cash award goes to the corresponding author of the selected publication or presentation. The Prize Committee calls for nominations for the Prize in May. Nominations can be made by anyone, including the authors of the publication or presentation being nominated.

Nominations

The Chair of the Prize committee calls for nominations for the Prize in May, and issues a reminder a month later. Nominations can be made by anyone, including the authors of the publication or presentation being nominated. Nominations should be e-mailed to the committee co-chairs (see below) with ‘Bill Silverman Prize’ in the subject heading, the citation for the publication or presentation, and a brief explanation of how it meets the criteria for the Prize. Nominations must be accompanied by the publication or presentation. The deadline for receipt of nominations is August 31.

Bill Silverman Prize committee

The Prize committee comprises four or five members, several of whom do not have an active role within any Cochrane entity (other than, possibly, as an author or referee of one or more Cochrane reviews). One of these people co-chairs the committee; the other co-chair is someone with an active role within a Cochrane entity. Each year, one of the co-chairs stands down from the committee. The resulting vacancy on the committee is filled by the recipient of the most recent Prize (or a person chosen by the recipients). The internal and external co-chairs for 2011 were David Moher and Bill Summerskill respectively; the other members were Katharina Biester (the 2009 Prize recipient), and Alexander Ford (the 2010 Prize recipient). For 2012, Katharina Biester resigned and was replaced by Sarah Donegan (the 2011 Prize recipient).

Funding for the Prize

Bill Silverman’s family agreed to the establishment of this Prize, and Iain and Jan Chalmers contributed GBP 5000 sterling of start-up funding. These Prize funds are administered by the Cochrane Operations Unit (the former Secretariat). The Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group will determine the future of the Prize when this initial contribution has been exhausted and, if relevant, will seek to identify future funding.

Bill Silverman Prize recipients  

2008 - Biester K et al. High dropout rates in trials included in Cochrane Reviews. Oral presentation at the XIV Cochrane Colloquium, Dublin, Ireland, October 2006 [abstract].

2009 - Moher D, Tetzlaff J, Tricco AC, Sampson M, Altman DG. Epidemiology and reporting characteristics of systematic reviews. PLoS Medicine 2007 4(3): e78. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040078 [full-text PDF].

2010 - Ford AC, Guyatt GH, Talley NJ, Moayyedi P, Errors in the conduct of systematic reviews of pharmacological interventions for irritable bowel syndrome. Am J Gastroenterol 2010; 105: 280-288; doi: 10.1038/ajg.2009.658. [abstract].

2011 - Donegan S, Williamson P, Gamble C, Tudur-Smith C. Indirect comparisons: a review of reporting and methodological quality. PLoS ONE 2010 5(11):e11054, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011054. [abstract].

See also section 2.4.3 of the Policy Manual.