1.1.1 The Cochrane Operations Unit

[This section was updated by the Administrator, Cochrane Operations Unit, on 26 April 2012.]

The work of The Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group and its sub-committee, the Monitoring and Registration Committee (MaRC), is supported by the Cochrane Operations Unit based in Oxford, UK. This office is staffed by a full-time Chief Executive Officer, Administrator and Company Secretary, Deputy Administrator, Project Support and Business Communications Officer, Team P.A. and Administrative Assistant, working closely with The Cochrane Collaboration’s Co-Chairs and Treasurer.

In order to provide clarity on the core functions of the Collaboration’s centrally funded management infrastructure, the Steering Group approved the re-naming of the Secretariat to the ‘Cochrane Operations Unit’ (COU) in July 2011, to match the name of the Cochrane Editorial Unit (CEU), and better denote the diversity of the high-level executive functioning of the COU. This change came into effect immediately after the Madrid Colloquium in October 2011.

The Cochrane Operations Unit, led by the Chief Executive Officer, and the Cochrane Editorial Unit, led by the Editor in Chief of The Cochrane Library, work closely together to ensure that the strategic aims of the Collaboration are delivered, for the benefit of groups and individuals within the Collaboration, and its stakeholders and funders.

Any function relevant to The Cochrane Library (the product) falls within the remit of the CEU. This covers both direct functions such as review production and editorial processes carried out by groups and authors, but also functions such as training, methods and ICT, which underpin the Library. Similarly, any function which underpins the work of the Collaboration (the people), separate from the Library, falls within the remit of the COU. This includes legal, financial and administrative management, oversight of marketing and communications, partnership building, and consumer support.

As part of its remit, the COU maintains a secretariat function to the organisation, and general administrative and business enquiries should be directed to operations-unit@cochrane.org.

The leadership team
The Co-Chairs, Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief ('the CCC') talk together regularly to provide a sounding board for ideas, to resolve problems, to discuss strategic planning, and to monitor progress with key projects. This arrangement was formalised by the (now disbanded) Operations and Finance Committee in July 2011, and approval was given for an annual budget of 5000 GBP for face-to-face meetings, should these be required.