Australian government announces renewal of nationwide licence for The Cochrane Library

The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) announced the official renewal of Australia’s national licence for The Cochrane Library in Canberra on Tuesday, 21 August 2012. Australia launched its first national licence in October 2002, making this announcement not only a milestone in itself, but also marking 10 years of nationwide access to The Cochrane Library.

The national licence means free access, for the next five years, to The Cochrane Library for every person in Australia with access to a computer. Access to up-to-date and relevant evidence is critical for all healthcare decision makers in reducing harms and costs, while maximising the possibilities of improved well-being. Healthcare professionals, patients and consumers, researchers and policymakers will continue to benefit from access to Cochrane Reviews of interventions ranging from surgical procedures and drugs to behavioural therapies and preventive care.

Australians are the highest per capita users of The Cochrane Library in the world. In 2011 Australians viewed 708,000 Cochrane abstracts online and downloaded 501,642 full reviews. The three most popular reviews in Australia last year were models of care for childbearing women, preventing falls in older people living in the community, and zinc for the common cold.

Ongoing support for The Cochrane Library is recognition of the vital role systematic reviews play in informing policy and practice. “Continuing to provide access to The Cochrane Library will ensure Australia remains a significant contributor to The Cochrane Collaboration, and the leading user of the best available research evidence,” said NHMRC CEO Professor Warwick  Anderson, in the announcement of the licence renewal, adding that access to Cochrane Reviews supports the Australian government’s goals for a “health literate society.”

Read the NHMRC’s full press release.

For more information on The Cochrane Collaboration’s work in Australia, please visit the Australasian Cochrane Centre website.